Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Union Budget for Financial Year 2022-23 on February 1, 2023, in Parliament. During her Budget speech, she said that the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan will be driven by seven engines for growth and transportation.
“PM Gati Shakti will encompass the seven engines for multi-modal connectivity for the states with speedier implementation of development projects through technology to facilitate faster movement of people and goods through Rs 20,000 crore financed by the government to speed up this project,” said Sitharaman.
“PM Gati Shakti is a transformative approach, driven by roads, railways, ports, airports, mass transport, waterways and logistics infrastructure. All seven engines will pull the economy forward in unison,” added the finance minister.
Sitharaman further mentioned that the project will expand the national highway network by 25,000 km in 2022-23.
In the Budget for FY 2022-23, Gati Shakti Master Plan – Rs 100 crore project for building holistic infrastructure in India – was allocated Rs 20,000 crore.
“400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with better efficiency to be brought in during the next 3 years; 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals to be developed during next 3 years and implementation of innovative ways for building metro systems,” added the finance minister.
“Moving forward on this parallel track, we lay the following four priorities – PM Gati Shakti, inclusive development, productivity enhancement and investment, sunrise opportunities, energy transition and climate action & financing of investments,” said Sitharaman.
What is the Gati Shakti Master Plan?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity. It is a digital platform that will bring 16 different ministries that includes v- Railways and Roadways for integrated planning. The plan aims at providing seamless connectivity for the movement of persons, goods and services from one mode of transport to another. It is expected to reduce the travel time for people.
The PM Gati Shakti Plan was introduced to reach the targets of mega infrastructure and connectivity for India till 2024-25. The government will set up an Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) for approving any changes in the plan to meet any new requirements till 2024-25. An Integrated Multimodal Network Planning Group (NPG) with senior officials will be responsible for the unified planning and integration of these proposals. The NPG will also examine infrastructure connectivity projects of over Rs 500 crore which are outside the master plan currently as their DPRs have either been completed or are in an advanced stage.
The PM Gati Shakti Plan includes a network of 2 lakh km of national highways, trains handling cargo of 1,600 million tonnes (MT), doubling gas pipeline network to 35,000 km, having a total of 220 airports, airstrips and aerodromes, a 25000-acre area developed for industries, including 11 industrial corridors, achieving a Rs 1.7 lakh crore turnover in defence production and 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharma clusters by 2024-25.
