PM Gati Shakti - National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has identified 101 projects under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan to enhance port connectivity with consumption and production centres, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on November 25.

INTRODUCTION:

• PM Gati Shakti is a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries including Railways, Roadways, Power, Telecom, Shipping etc. together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.

SIX PILLARS OF PM GATI SHAKTI

• Comprehensiveness:
  • It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralized portal.
  • Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other's activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.
• Prioritization:
  • Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-sectoral interactions.
• Optimization:
  • The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps.
  • For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.
• Synchronization:
  • Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos.
  • There is lack of coordination in planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays.
  • PM Gati Shakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.
• Analytical:
  • The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.
• Dynamic:
  • All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal.
  • It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.

NEED FOR GATI SHAKTI:

• Slow pace of infrastructure creation in India:
  • For ex: Only 30-35 km of roads are constructed in India per day as compared to 45km in China
• Silo culture:
  • There was lack of coordination between different Departments, for example once a road was constructed, other agencies dug up the constructed road again for activities like laying of underground cables, gas pipelines etc.
• Lack of complementary linkages:
  • For ex: Solar energy plant constructed without ensuring transmission line infrastructure
• High logistics costs:
  • Logistics costs in India is 13-14% of GDP as compared to 6-7% in developed countries
• Wasteful expenditure:
  • Lack of micro and macro planning >> creates delays and leads to inefficient utilization of public resources
• Corruption:
  • There is an unholy nexus between bureaucracy and private contractors
• Lack last mile connectivity:
  • For ex: poor functioning of the Delhi Metro feeder services makes people reluctant to rely on metros
• Cross-sectoral and cross-domain nature of the challenges in infrastructure development:      
  • There are interventions that appear to offer benefits in a particular domain but are cancelled out by negative fallout in another related domain.
  • Similarly, some interventions are rejected due to insufficient benefit in one domain but may offer collateral benefits in other domains
  • If these collateral benefits were taken into account, investment in that intervention would be more than justified.
  • Our existing accounting systems do not handle such feedback loops well
  • Example:  The use of chemical fertilisers and toxic pesticides may be important for food security but also contribute to the undermining of health security by the contamination of ground water and thus of the food chain. The apparent gain in food security is more than negated by losses incurred in mounting health costs
  • Example: All project planning, especially of long-term infrastructure, must incorporate ‘climate proofing’, given the overweening challenge of climate change.
• Creation of Infrastructure is crucial in achieving sustainable development and poverty alleviation

TARGETS UNDER GATI SHAKTI

• The plan includes 11 industrial corridors, achieving a Rs 1.7 lakh crore turnover in defence production and having 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharma clusters by 2024-25.
• The national master plan fixes targets up to 2024-25 for all infrastructure ministries.
• For example:
  • The target for Road Transport and Highways Ministry is having National Highways of 2 lakh km, completion of four or six-lane national highways of 5,590 km along coastal areas and all state capitals in north-east to be connected with four-lane national highways or two two-lane national highways.
  • For Railways, the target by 2024-25 is to handle cargo of 1,600 million tonnes from 1,210 million tonnes in 2020, decongesting 51 percent of the Railway network by completing additional lines and implementation of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs).

EXPECTED OUTCOME:

• Breaks silo culture:
  • It will address the past issues through institutionalizing holistic planning for stakeholders for major infrastructure projects.
  • Instead of planning & designing separately in silos, the projects will be designed and executed with a common vision.
  • It will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.
• Leverage technology:
  • It will also leverage technology extensively including spatial planning tools with ISRO imagery developed by BiSAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics).
• Improves business ecosystem:
  • Enhance competiveness
    • Economic Zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defence corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, agri zones will be covered to improve connectivity & make Indian businesses more competitive.
  • Reduce logistics costs
  • Reduce turn-around time at ports
  • Increase cargo handling capacity
• Employment generation:
  • It will create multiple employment opportunities and give a boost to the economy.
• Improve the global competitiveness of local products:
  • It will improve the global competitiveness of local products by cutting down the logistics costs and improving the supply chains, and also ensure proper linkages for local industry & consumers.
• Information dissemination:
  • It will provide the public and business community information regarding the upcoming connectivity projects, other business hubs, industrial areas and surrounding environment.
  • This will enable the investors to plan their businesses at suitable locations leading to enhanced synergies
• Facilitate the last mile connectivity
  • The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another.
  • It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.
• Help in reducing human intervention within ministry:
  • Currently, any inter-ministerial issues that arise relating to a project are addressed in regular meetings of infrastructure-related ministries.
  • The Gati Shakti portal would help reduce the human intervention required as ministries will be in constant touch.
• Optimum utilization of public resource:
  • Projects under PM Gati Shakti are sanctioned only after assessing cross-sector viability.

CHALLENGES:

• Low credit off-take:
  • According to the RBI’s paper, the growth rate in credit off-take has steeply declined to 5.8% in November 2020, as against 14.2% in 2013.
  • This will reduce private investment in infrastructure projects.
  • At present, there are concerns about the declining credit offtake trends from banks as they don’t want to get into another Non-Performing Asset (NPA) crisis in future.
• The scheme does not address the structural issues:
  • Land acquisition, litigation issues, alienation of local communities, environmental clearances etc are some major hurdles that delays infrastructure development in the country >> which may not be solved with PM Gati Shakti
• Poor fiscal health of states:
  • With the pandemic and its associated challenges, the state governments don’t have enough finances to invest in large infrastructure projects. This will delay the implementation of the master plan.
• Ad-hocism:
  • Gati Shakti is a laudable initiative but it is still in the nature of an ad hoc mechanism
  • The Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 and as amended up to January 2017, still form the basic governing structure of the country.
  • These Rules reflect the traditional stove pipe approach to administration.
  • In order to enable cross-sectoral and cross-domain approaches a radically different Allocation of Business Rules will be necessary.

WAY FORWARD

• Promote federalism:
  • In taking the Gati Shakti initiative forward, it is important to make the states of India full stakeholders since most development activity takes place at the level of states.
• Ensure civil society participation:
  • Civil society is an equally important stakeholder and there should be a mechanism through which civil society views are gathered and feedback made available to it.
  • This will create much-needed public trust and a sense of participation in India’s infrastructure development.
• Resolving conflicts:
  • When different agencies of the central government, the state governments and even agencies at the district or municipal level propose developmental programmes, there are bound to be contradictions and conflicts
  • The GoM mechanism is one way of reconciling such differences but it must be serviced by a well-resourced institution that is able to assemble the necessary data and expert advice needed to come to a well-considered decision. Perhaps Niti Aayog could undertake that responsibility.
  • For inter-state issues, it may be necessary to revive and revitalise the Inter-State Council to reconcile any differences between the Centre and states and between states themselves.
  • Zonal Councils could also have a role to play.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. How will the Gati Shakti scheme be able to tackle infrastructural challenges in India?