In the 56th Network Planning Group meeting under PM GatiShakti 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 were assessed. The 56th NPG meeting was held yesterday 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 GatiShakti approach.

MoRTH presented four road projects worth about Rs. 45000 Crore to NPG and demonstrated adherence to GatiShakti principles. The first project proposal is a Greenfield Road located in the State of Gujarat and Maharashtra, that will benefit not only industrial belts in Navsari, Nashik, Ahmednagar districts but also the agriculture sector in the region. Additionally, the project is expected to contribute to overall socio-economic development of tribal districts like Navsari, Valsad and Nashik by providing easy and convenient connectivity. It will also benefit the tourism sector in the region and will also connect aspirational districts, such as Osmanabad. 

The second Greenfield Road project is also located in the state of Gujarat, through Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad District. It will connect Amritsar-Jamnagar economic corridor with Ahmedabad and Vadodara and will integrate with other modes of transportation, thereby contributing to the promotion and usage of multi-modality in the region.

The third road project proposed is located in the State of Bihar and involves construction of 4 laning of Patna- Arrah-Sasaram corridor under Bharatmala Pariyojna. This project is expected to bring-in socio-economic development in Left-wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts, including tribal areas. The project will help in improving logistics efficiency by reducing existing route and travel time, and provide seamless connectivity for the traffic coming from UP through Purvanchal Expressway and going towards Jharkhand and Patna. It will also integrate the waterways in the region. 

The fourth road project discussed during the meeting is located in Uttar Pradesh with an objective to improve the interstate connectivity among Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand.

During the meeting, two Railway project proposals with a total project cost of about Rs. 6700 Crore were also 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.

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 GatiShakti 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 revolutionizing the infrastructure planning process that is resulting in the reduction of time taken for DPR preparation, easy visualization 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 area, 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 GatiShakti point of view, with an objective to ensure overall socio-economic upliftment of the region. 

The importance of embracing PM GatiShakti 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.

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