About the project

• Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “PM GatiShakti — National Master Plan” for infrastructure development aimed at boosting multimodal connectivity and driving down logistics costs.
• PM GatiShakti is a digital platform that connects 16 ministries — including Roads and Highways, Railways, Shipping, Petroleum and Gas, Power, Telecom, Shipping, and Aviation- with a view to ensuring holistic planning and execution of infrastructure projects.
• The portal will offer 200 layers of geospatial data, including on existing infrastructure such as roads, highways, railways, and toll plazas, as well as geographic information about forests, rivers and district boundaries to aid in planning and obtaining clearances.
• The portal will also allow various government departments to track, in real time and at one centralised place, the progress of various projects, especially those with multi-sectoral and multi-regional impact.
• The objective is to ensure that each and every department now has visibility of each other’s activities providing critical data while planning and execution of projects in a comprehensive manner. 
• The GatiShakti platform aims to prevent such situations by addressing the issue of government departments working in silos.
• The government expects the platform to enable various government departments to synchronise their efforts into a multi-modal network. It will also offer satellite imagery for monitoring of projects. It is also expected to help state governments give commitments to investors regarding timeframes for the creation of infrastructure.

How will the platform help bring down logistics costs?

• Studies estimate that logistics costs in India are about 13-14% of GDP as against about 7-8% of GDP in developed economies. 
• High logistics costs impact cost structures within the economy, and also make it more expensive for exporters to ship merchandise to buyers.
• By incorporating infrastructure schemes under various ministries and state governments, and economic zones such as textile and pharmaceutical clusters and electronics parks, the GatiShakti platform aims to boost last-mile connectivity and bring down logistics costs with integrated planning and reducing implementation overlap.

Why in News?

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Ministry of Railway’s proposal to revise the railways’ land policy to implement the PM Gati Shakti framework.
• The revised railways’ land policy will enable integrated development of infrastructure and more cargo terminals.
• 300 PM Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals would be developed over next five years and about 1.2 lakh employment would be generated.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1857411