PM Gati Shakti positions India as China alternative
By Deepa Kaushik
Bengaluru, February 16: The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, which costs Rs 1 lakh crore and required 80 lakh tons of cement and 12 lakh tons of steel, represents an important turning point in the development of the ‘Gati Shakti National Master Plan’. The motorway is India’s one of the greatest engineering achievements, which will cut the distance between Delhi and Mumbai’s travel time by 12 hours.
Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is the longest in India, measuring 1386 kilometers in total, of which 246 kilometers are now accessible to the general public. This will provide an easy access to several cities, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Also, this will pave the way for significant employment chances, which will hasten economic activities.
A key component of the ‘Gati Shakti National Master Plan’ for multi-modal connectivity is to create next generation infrastructure by learning from the past. “PM Gati Shakti presents a holistic approach to solve our infrastructure challenges; our emphasis is on proper connectivity,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This master plan’s primary goal is to eliminate departmental silos, implement more comprehensive and integrated project planning and execution in order to address the problem of last-mile connectivity & multi-modal connectivity. In other words, the ‘Gati Shakti’ Plan’s strategy entails bringing together all departments or ministries, such as those in charge of roads, trains, aviation, agriculture, etc., under a single administrative framework. A GIS-based platform that aggregates geospatial data about the nation’s infrastructure and planning portals from several Ministries/Departments of the Government makes up the digital component of the PM GatiShakti NMP.
To broaden public participation and inform individuals of project development, the nodal ministry frequently ran targeted social media campaigns. Through these campaigns, the ministry informed the public about the progress being made on important infrastructure projects such the Greenfield Expressways and Corridors, Multi-Modal Logistics Parks, Ropeways, and others.
Erstwhile, the infrastructure projects were always got delayed, whereas, the PM GatiShakti is giving them a brand-new impetus. Additionally, the platform provides investors with a one-stop shop for project design, quick approvals, and simpler cost estimation. “The mission is to implement projects without time overrun and cost overrun. Now, the global companies are choosing India as their manufacturing base,” said an additional secretary of logistics in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Projects that are being accelerated are giving India the Gati (speed) it needs to confront China’s control over the global economy. In order to diversify their company and supply chains when China adopted the Zero Covid Policy and imposed a nationwide lockdown, more and more manufacturing facilities moved their bases to India. The third-largest economy in Asia not only provides inexpensive labour but also a talent pool with a strong concentration of industry-based skill sets.
It appears that the only way to compete with China, aside from the political pressures on nations to leave, is to be as cost-competitive as you can. Moreover, Gati Shakti aims to facilitate the movement of goods and manufactured parts throughout the entire nation. Finding brand-new production clusters where none already exist and connecting them to the country’s railway system, ports, airports, and other modes of transportation are the projects’ main foundations.
Under the Gati Shakti programme, the government is using technology to prevent newly built roads from being dug up once more to install phone or gas pipelines. The strategy calls for modelling infrastructure improvements to boost the country’s competitiveness score. The Gati Shakti portal is also being used by the government to identify infrastructural holes in first and last mile connectivity. Modern warehousing, process digitization, specialized labor, and logistic cost reduction continue to receive attention. India will therefore be a sought-after location for any firm picking India as a manufacturing location.
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