New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a Rs 100 lakh crore national master plan for multi-modal connectivity that aims to develop infrastructure to reduce logistic costs and boost the economy.
PM Gati Shakti targets to cut logistic costs, increase cargo handling capacity and reduce the turnaround time, Modi said at a function to launch the plan.
The plan aims to lend more power and speed to projects by connecting all concerned departments on one platform, he said, adding the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and state governments will be designed and executed with a common vision.
Modi said taxpayers’ money in the past was ‘insulted’ through a lethargic approach to development work, with departments working in silos and there was no coordination on projects.
Development, he said, is not possible without quality infrastructure and the government has now resolved to develop it in a holistic manner.
Gati Shakti joins different departments for the coordinated development of projects from road to railways, aviation to agriculture, the Prime Minister said.
Stating that high logistics cost in India at 13 per cent of GDP was impacting competitiveness in exports, he said PM Gati Shakti is aimed at reducing logistic cost and turnaround time.
This, he said, will give a boost to India as an investment destination.
The Prime Minister said the speed and scale that India is witnessing under his government was never seen in the previous 70 years of independence.
Giving examples, he said the first inter-state natural gas pipeline was commissioned in 1987. From then to 2014, 15,000-km of the natural gas pipeline was built. Currently, more than 16,000-km of the new gas pipeline is being constructed.
“What was done in 27 years, we are doing in it in less than half that time,” he said.