New Delhi: As many as 66 big-ticket infrastructure projects worth about Rs five lakh crore of different ministries have been recommended for approval under the PM Gati Shakti initiative this fiscal, said a senior official on Thursday. These projects have been recommended by the Network Planning Group (NPG) constituted under the PM Gati Shakti initiative launched in October last year.

'Every ministry should adopt the PM Gati Shakti concept up to the field level'

Special secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sumita Dawra said that every ministry should adopt the PM Gati Shakti concept up to the field level so that every district collector, officer and state is equally involved in it. On October 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Gati Shakti National Master Plan aimed at developing an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistic costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, entailing investments of over Rs 500 crore are routed through the NPG.

'Rs 5 lakh cr have been assessed on Gati Shakti principles'

"Costs of these projects are coming to be about Rs five lakh crore have been assessed on Gati Shakti principles in the last eight months," Dawra said. These projects include Gurdaspur-Jammu-Srinagar natural gas pipeline worth Rs 6,931 crore, Chennai-Trichy-Tuticorin Exp project worth Rs 30,502 crore and Marwar industrial cluster worth Rs 922 crore.

Over 1,000 layers of data, including those related to land, ports, forest, and highways, are available on the portal, Dawra added. Usage of the portal by different ministries including social sector departments and states are increasing and it is helping in proper planning of projects, she said.

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