A special empowered multi-disciplinary team needs to be set up with an objective of using principles of Gati Shakti planning in studying few airports proposed in different regions, says Robey Lal, Airport Planner and Operations Advisor, ICT Pvt. Ltd. How will Gati Shakti help in catalyzing the building and construction of infrastructure projects? Building and Construction of infrastructure projects I believe are the later, the bricks and mortar execution stage. The first and the most critical impact that this excellent idea will have to deal with are in the planning stage. Are there are any early successes of the Gati Shakti initiative across different sectors as also airports that you want to make a mention of? One airport project that I am familiar with is the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru expansion programme. Bengaluru is India’s third busiest airport catering to domestic as well as international flights The airport expansion project is for the new terminal, Terminal 2. The development brings together transportation modes of air, road-highway and metro rail in a very complex planning and execution and development exercise. In addition to the new terminal the project includes the development of the second runway at the airport which was commissioned a few years ago. The project has required a great deal of coordination. Especially to modify and expand existing facilities to serve the airport which are built over the highway and railway lines. Gati Shakti involves projects of massive size and scale, what are some of the challenges you feel need to be addressed so that in the long run, project implementation and work continues unabated? The key to long term success is planning for growth. Hence I believe there should be an analysis of the planning and execution processes used in different modes, the involvement of transport economists and regional economists to develop a matrix to assess the impact of various projects over an extended period of time is necessary. Another important factor is economists studying the projects prioritize the modes to be developed. All infrastructure projects have to deal with growth over time. As demographics and economies of the areas served by the projects change likewise the demand for transportation changes, the equipment in use, e.g. aircraft and trains for long distance travel changes too. How this issue is to be addressed with at the planning stage is something that has been inadequately dealt with so far. In the airports sector, there is a proposal for about 200 new airports to be developed in a comparatively short period of time. I suggest that a special empowered multi-disciplinary team be set up as soon as possible. Technologically are we empowered to the right extent to bring these engineering marvel’s to life in the defined timeline? My understanding is that each project has to have a defined timeline and it is responsibility of all agencies to accept and assist in meeting those timelines. So monitoring and corrective action is critical, timelines are likely to be disturbed by unforeseen events. The COVID-19 pandemic is an excellent example. Others may not be as widespread in its impact, but all agencies involved in the planning have to be kept informed, as each infrastructure mode and discipline can have inputs to be adjusted for in the execution. It will be important to delineate the roles and responsibilities with clarity to various levels of management about delegation of power to avoid conflict and coordination problems. Likewise consistency and continuity of regulations in respect Tax laws and incentives and regulatory requirements should be ensured to avoid claims under change of law provisions in contracts. This is happening in many cases at present. Given the scale and size of the project in Gati Shakti the role of PPP, Hybrid PPP, VGF for each project need to be examined and thought through by the concerned domain and subject matter experts to achieve the objectives laid down. I think we should spend 65% of time in planning and war gaming the plan and the balance in execution. The use of IT in planning and execution stages is necessary thereafter training manpower and capacity improvements for execution and operations can be thought of.