Gati Shakti assessment reveals infra gaps in over 131 projects

New Delhi: The first six months of the flagship Gati Shakti Mission have thrown up over 130 critical projects where 'infrastructure gaps' have been noted and flagged off to the concerned ministries.

ET has gathered that as many as 80 projects have been identified by the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways, 38 by the Ministry of Steel and 13 by the Coal ministry where there are infrastructure gaps that other ministries need to address. For instance, on ports-road linkages to Machilipatnam port, Mundra and Dahej ports, Sachana ship recycling yard, Keni-Belekeri port, connectivity to Kundapur and Bhatkal ports, besides links to Malpe, Hangarkatta and Padubidri are required. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH) and the National Highways Authority of India are the implementing agencies that are now holding discussions with the Network Planning Group (NPG) under Gati Shakti to expedite the projects.

Similarly, integrated development of Tadadi-Aghanshini waterway in Uttara Kannada district, upgradation of the road link to Dighi port, Sangegaon jetty project, Cochin port and the six-lane connectivity to Deendayal port trust besides better linkage to Diamond Harbor are on the list to be taken up by the Project Monitoring Group of Gati Shakti. There are also 38 projects flagged by the ministry of steel. These involve infrastructure gaps mainly related to railway line tripling to link iron mines to coastal areas and ports and require the railway ministry's attention and have been duly forwarded to them for resolution.

There are also the likes of the Brahamani river and Amba river waterway connections and Paradeep port decongestion which has been referred to the Ministry of Shipping, ports and waterways. There are several oil pipeline projects involving the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas while airport and air strip expansion towards Raipur, Jharsuguda, Jamshedpur, Angul have also been requested.

The 13 coal ministry projects being monitoring under Mission Gati Shakti are related to coal evacuation infrastructure -- mainly road and rail networks. Some are needed to supplement existing connectivity as the case in Talcher and others to provide new lines like in Shivpur-Kathautia and Kharsia-Dharamjaigar.

The East-West rail corridor needed for faster coal evacuation form Korba coalfields requires several green clearances from the Environment ministry. It is here that the PM Gatishakti National Master Plan (NMP) -- the digital platform for planning multimodal infrastructure connectivity to various economic zones -- and with 16 ministries on board, comes into play.

It is envisaged that over 1,300 projects will be onboarded to the NMP by 2024 -- 850 of them are mapped on to it so far.

Data layers are being ported on to the NMP from across ministries to plan more intelligently and in coordination with multiple agencies involved and thereby reduce overlaps, time and cost overruns.

Officials involved told ET that over 600 data layers have already been mapped on to NMP including from Telecom, Railways, Environment,

“Typically, a project- say of coal evacuation, optical fibre laying or port linkage- would involve 10-12 data layers such as forest area overlaps, railway over bridge requirements, wildlife presence, road network and utilities. The NMP helps caution an implementing agency say on forest land and hence a different alignment can be planned at the initial stage itself”, said the official.

The three Dedicated freight corridors are a case study being cited in recent PM Gati Shakti reviews. Realignments were made in view of intersection with the Dalma wildlife sanctuary, a cement company’s presence, Murgagutu industrial park and a mining area.

Similarly, the national broadband mission to connect all non fiberized towers to the optical fibre connectivity system used the NMP both in Goa and Patna to assess the right length and cost involved in the exercise against exact data available on the portal of the existing tower network and location.

Similarly, the Civil aviation ministry’s proposal to expand the Jolly Grant airport off Dehradun has mapped onto the NMP to assess exact land acquisition requirements by digitally surveying the agricultural and built up area around besides he road network.