The 56th Network Planning Group meeting under PM Gati Shakti approved six project proposals, including four projects of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and two projects of Ministry of Railways (MoR) with the total project cost of about Rs. 52,000 Crore.
More Details:
The 56th NPG meeting held under the chairpersonship of Special Secretary, Logistics, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Smt. Sumita Dawra at Yashobhoomi Convention Center in New Delhi. This takes the total number of projects assessed by NPG to 112 with a total value of about Rs 11.53 Lakh Crore, since the launch of PM Gati Shakti approach.
Details of approved Railway projects:
- During the meeting, two Railway project proposals with a total project cost of about Rs. 6700 Crores were 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 overall socio-economic development in the tribal belts of Kandhamal & Boudh districts and will open up opportunities for new industrial corridors along the proposed line.
- Another railway project proposal is located in the state of Kerala and involves doubling of railway lines. The proposed augmentation of infrastructure will improve the quality of rail movement in a highly stressed corridor of Southern Railway. Additionally, it will reduce travel time both for Goods as well as Passenger trains.
Discussions in Meeting:
During the meeting, NPG acknowledged that these projects will benefit a number of aspirational districts and tribal districts by opening the door for industrial development.
The meeting saw active participation from senior officials of member Departments and Ministries, viz. 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.
Discussions during the meeting highlighted the benefits of using PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) portal in project planning, and how experience shows the NMP portal was effective in cost as well as time saving in project planning.
Planning through digital surveys is revolutionising the infrastructure planning process that is resulting in the reduction of time taken for DPR preparation, easy visualisation of intersections of the planned project with forests/economic zones/archeological sites/social nodes etc.
It also helps in route and alignment optimization and effective last/first mile connectivity planning to major social as well as economic zones in project areas, it was noted. Further, these projects are well integrated with other modes of transportation and thus will promote multi-modality.
Area Development Approach in project planning was the focus of the NPG during evaluation of projects from Gati Shakti point of view, with an objective to ensure overall socio-economic upliftment of the region.
The importance of embracing PM Gati Shakti guidelines to facilitate the seamless integration of diverse transportation modes and encourage multimodal connectivity was seen in all the projects considered, with benefits for both economic and social development.
Source: PIB- Press Release | Image Credit (representational): MoR
