Up to six infrastructure projects, encompassing roads and railways and valued at Rs 520 billion, have been recommended for approval under the PM Gati Shakti initiative. According to the statement, this brings the total number of projects evaluated by the NPG to 112, with a cumulative worth of approximately Rs 11.53 trillion since the launch of PM Gati Shakti. These six projects were scrutinised during the 56th Network Planning Group (NPG) meeting on September 27. The commerce and industry ministry announced, "In the Group meeting under PM Gati Shakti, six project proposals, comprising four projects from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and two projects from the Ministry of Railways, with a combined project cost of around Rs 520 billion, were evaluated." The inter-ministerial NPG convenes every fortnight to evaluate infrastructure projects, ensuring a multi-modal approach, synchronization of efforts, and comprehensive development in the project vicinity. The PM Gati Shakti initiative was initiated to establish an integrated infrastructure system to reduce logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects requiring investments over Rs 5 billion are routed through the NPG. Approval from the NPG is mandatory before the project can be cleared by the Public Investment Board (PIB) or the Department of Expenditure under the finance ministry. Most of the projects approved by the group pertain to roads, railways, and urban development. The National Master Plan (NMP) incorporates various layers of geospatial data, consolidating all physical and social infrastructure and land records in one location. It was designed to facilitate faster planning and enhanced design to maximise the impact of investments. The NPG includes representatives from different connectivity infrastructure ministries and departments, with their heads of network planning division participating to facilitate unified planning and integration of proposals. These departments are required to seek approval from the NPG before creating a Detailed Project Report (DPR) during the planning phase. Following clearance from the NPG, the project undergoes the standard approval process by the finance ministry and the Cabinet. The portal provides access to over 1,400 layers of data, encompassing information related to land, ports, forests, and highways.
