New Delhi: At the 56th meeting of the Network Planning Group (NPG) under PM Gati Shakti, six projects worth Rs 52,000 crore were assessed, said the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on Thursday. Out of six, four projects belonged to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) while two belonged to the Ministry of Railways. “This takes the total number of projects assessed by NPG to 112 with a total value of Rs 11.53 lakh crore since the launch of PM GatiShakti approach,” said a statement.
The meeting was held on September 27 under the chairpersonship of Special Secretary, Logistics, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Sumita Dawra, at Yashobhoomi Convention Center in New Delhi.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways presented four road projects worth Rs 45,000 crore to the NPG and demonstrated adherence to GatiShakti principles. The first project proposal is a Greenfield Road located in Gujarat and Maharashtra which will benefit not only the industrial belts in Navsari, Nashik, Ahmednagar districts but also the agriculture sector in the region, the statement said.
Additionally, the project is expected to contribute to the overall socio-economic development of tribal districts like Navsari, Valsad and Nashik by providing easy and convenient connectivity. It will also benefit the tourism sector in the region and will connect aspirational districts, such as Osmanabad, said the government.
The second Greenfield Road project is also located in the state of Gujarat, through Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad district. It will connect Amritsar-Jamnagar economic corridor with Ahmedabad and Vadodara and will integrate with other modes of transportation, thereby contributing to the promotion and usage of multi-modality in the region.
The third road project proposed is located in Bihar and involves four-laning of the Patna- Arrah-Sasaram corridor under Bharatmala Pariyojna. This project is expected to bring in socio-economic development in Left-wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts, including tribal areas. The project will help in improving logistics efficiency by reducing existing route and travel time and provide seamless connectivity for the traffic coming from UP through Purvanchal Expressway and going towards Jharkhand and Patna. It will also integrate the waterways in the region, said the statement.
The fourth road project discussed during the meeting is located in Uttar Pradesh with an objective to improve the interstate connectivity between Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
During the meeting, two Railway project proposals with a total project cost of about Rs 6,700 crore were also assessed. One Greenfield railway line project is located in Odisha and passes through the districts of Ganjam, Nayagarh, Khandhamal, Boudh, Sambalpur and Angul districts. It will connect the industrial and mineral clusters of western Odisha with the East Coast port. Additionally, the industrial clusters in eastern Chhattisgarh will also get a shorter port connectivity with the East Coast.
This railway line is expected to bring the overall socio-economic development in the tribal belts of Kandhamal and Boudh districts and will open up opportunities for new industrial corridors along the proposed line. Another railway project proposal was for Kerala and involved doubling of railway lines. The proposed augmentation of infrastructure will improve the quality of rail movement in a highly stressed corridor of the Southern railway. Additionally, it will reduce travel time both for goods as well as passenger trains, said the government.
During the meeting, the NPG acknowledged that these projects will benefit a number of aspirational districts and tribal districts by opening the door for industrial development.
During the meeting, the ministry highlighted the benefits of using ‘PM GatiShakti’ National Master Plan (NMP) portal in project planning and how the portal was effective in cost as well as time saving in project planning.
The meeting saw participation from senior officials of member Departments and Ministries — Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Department of Telecommunications and NITI Aayog.
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