PM Gati Shakti: Building an India of the Future

The Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Masterplan announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Red Fort on India's 75th independence day demonstrates a new vision for a new India. This is the most extensive plan for infrastructure development in the history of independent India, as the government plans to invest nearly Rs 100 lakh crore in the coming years.

Integrated long-term planning under Gati Shakti will improve last-mile connectivity and multi-modal connectivity across the country. Rather than taking a myopic project-based approach, the master plan provides a comprehensive strategy for infrastructure development in the country. In the past, the lack of coordinated planning has led to massive wastage of public resources and failed projects.

The PM Gati Shakti Master plan will provide a world-class infrastructure that will bolster India's economic progress for many decades.

Why India is building and relying on infrastructure

There has been a strong emphasis laid on infrastructure projects by the Modi government and there has been a number of reasons for that. Infrastructure creation is an extremely job-intensive activity, which creates jobs at all levels and also impacts job creation in many ancillary domains.

Traditionally, there was a 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 underground cables, gas pipelines, etc. This not only caused great inconvenience but was also a wasteful expenditure. To address this, efforts are being made through PM Gati Shakti to increase coordination. Steps are being taken to address other issues like the time-taking approval process, multiplicity of regulatory clearances, etc. Instead of planning & designing separately in silos, the projects will be designed and executed with a common vision.

PM Gati Shakti

The PM Gati Shakti project gives impetus to the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which was inaugurated in 2019, by bringing a multi-modal and integrated approach. In addition to lowering logistics costs, the programme aims to enhance trade by boosting cargo handling capacity and reducing port turnaround times. It also plans to build 11 industrial corridors and two new defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, respectively. Another goal is to bring 4G connectivity to all villages.

The gas pipeline network will be expanded by 17,000 kilometres. The government’s goals, which include increasing the national highway network to 2 lakh kilometres and building more than 200 new airports, heliports, and water aerodromes, will be boosted by PM Gati Shakti which gives scale, speed and integration to India’s massive infrastructure building efforts.

The new infrastructure will make India one of the leaders in the global supply chain and ensure that it remains the world's most preferred destination for investment. PM Gati Shakti will make citizens' lives easier by improving connectivity across the country and generating employment opportunities for citizens' crores. The additional advantage that PM Gati Shakti’s infrastructure creation drive brings to the nation is the creation of a huge number of direct and indirect jobs since the infrastructure is known to be a job-intensive sector.