PM Gati Shakti's NPG drives Rs 150 mn per km savings on NHAI projects

The Network Planning Group (NPG) under the PM Gati Shakti initiative anticipates saving up to Rs 150 million per km for NHAI projects by optimising expressway alignments. Led by Sumita Dawra, the NPG, part of the PM Gati Shakti initiative, has evaluated $143.26 billion worth of projects, recommending improvements to $660 million state logistics projects. Besides focusing on roads and rail, the NPG addresses social sector planning, providing comprehensive data to various ministries for quicker project planning. PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, launched in 2021, aims to reduce logistics costs with over 75 ready-to-implement use-cases. Dawra highlighted efficiency gains in ministries like MoRTH and MoPNG, resulting in significant time and cost savings. The NPG has identified 192 railway projects worth Rs 5.26 trillion and 156 infrastructure gaps, with 100 projects sanctioned in the current financial year. Dawra emphasised the NPG's role in providing mobile connectivity to 26,000 villages lacking telecom connectivity by supplying data on land availability for telecom towers and electric supply stations.