A high-level Network Planning Group
(NPG) meeting under PM Gati Shakti national master plan took up four
infrastructure projects worth Rs 15,000 crore for discussion.
These included two railway line
projects. The first involves a Greenfield railway line spanning 127 km in the
state of Jharkhand which aims to bridge the last-mile gap to existing coal
blocks. The project will reduce the distance and time for travel.
The second project involved a brownfield
railway line in Jharkhand and West Bengal, benefiting logistical movement in
the industrial belt of Burnpur, Durgapur, and Asansol.
This initiative is aimed at alleviating
congestion on the existing railway line, providing an additional traffic
capacity and generating extra revenue through detention savings.
As per Gati Shakti principles, the
projects were discussed to promote multimodal connectivity to the manufacturing
and commercial zones, while uplifting the socio-economic development of the
region through improved logistics ecosystem.
Further, two road projects were also
discussed with a combined road length of more than 300 kms. One project is in
Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, aiming to uplift the socio-economic conditions in
tribal districts and a Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected district.
The road is expected to reduce the
length of present travel by 11 per cent (from 153.45 km to 136.62 km) and
travel time by 56 per cent (from 4.2 hours to 1.85 hours).
The second road project, situated in
Assam and Mizoram, offers alternative connectivity route in the region,
resulting in a 20 per cent reduction in length (from 215 km to 172 km) and a 50
per cent reduction in travel time (from 5 hours to 2.5 hours) over present
connectivity.
This road is poised to benefit
industrial parks and the Bamboo Technology Park in the region.
A Rail Sagar Corridor programme by the
Ministry of Railway was also taken up with the objective of increasing the Rail
and ports-based cargo share by 2031, improving modal shift for Railways and
contributing to cleaner ways of freight movement.
The meeting was held under
chairpersonship of Special Secretary (Logistics), Department for Promotion of
Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sumita Dawra.
NPG members representing various
infrastructure Ministries and Departments, such as Ministry of Road Transport
and Highways, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways,
Ministry of Power, Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Petroleum
and Natural Gas, besides NITI Aayog participated in the meeting.
Agency
