The 56th Network Planning Group meeting under PM Gati Shakti, has assessed 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.

Discussions during the meeting highlighted the benefits of using PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) portal in project planning, and how experience shows the NMP portal was effective in cost as well as timesaving in project planning.

During the meeting, how planning through digital surveys is revolutionizing the infrastructure planning process by reducing the time taken for DPR preparation, easy visualization of intersections of the planned project with forests/economic zones/archaeological sites/social nodes, etc, were deliberated upon.

It was noted that it also helps in route and alignment optimization and effective last/first mile connectivity planning to major social as well as economic zones in the project areas.

Four road projects

The MoRTH presented four road projects worth about Rs 45,000 crore to NPG and demonstrated adherence to the Gati Shakti principles. The first project proposal is a greenfield road located in Gujarat and Maharashtra, that will benefit not only the industrial belts in Navsari, Nashik, Ahmednagar districts but also the agriculture sector in the region.

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 Gujarat, which runs through Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Gandhinagar, and Ahmedabad districts. It will connect the Amritsar-Jamnagar economic corridor with Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

The third road project proposed is in Bihar and involves construction of four-laning of the Patna-Arrah-Sasaram corridor under the Bharatmala Pariyojna. It will also provide seamless connectivity for the traffic coming from UP through the Purvanchal Expressway and going towards Jharkhand and Patna.

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

Two railway projects

Two railway project proposals with a total project cost of about Rs 6,700 crore were also assessed. One greenfield railway line project is located in Odisha and passes through the districts of Ganjam, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Boudh, Sambalpur, and Angul districts.

It will connect the industrial and mineral clusters of western Odisha with the east coast ports.

Additionally, the industrial clusters in eastern Chhattisgarh will also get a shorter port connectivity in the east coast.

Another railway project proposal is in 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.