As many as 228 big-ticket infrastructure projects of different ministries, including roads and railways, worth Rs 15.89 trillion have been recommended for approval under the PM GatiShakti initiative so far, a top government official said on Wednesday. These projects have been recommended by the Network Planning Group (NPG) constituted under the PM GatiShakti initiative launched "So far, 228 projects have been assessed under the initiative worth Rs 1,588,919 trillion," Additional Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Rajeev Singh Thakur told reporters here. There are several benefits of using the PM GatiShakti system, including significant cuts in time and cost for planning these infrastructure projects. The maximum number of projects recommended by the group are related to roads (108), railways (85), urban development (12), and four from the oil and gas ministry.

The inter-ministerial NPG meets every fortnight and appraises infra projects to ensure multi-modality, synchronisation of efforts, and comprehensive development in and around the project location.

The initiative was launched to develop an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, entailing investments of over Rs 5 billion are routed through the NPG. The NPG's approval is required before the clearance of the project by the Public Investment Board (PIB) or Department of Expenditure under the finance ministry.

The NMP (National Master Plan) has over 1,600 layers of geospatial data, showing all physical and social infrastructure of an area and land records in one place. It has been designed for faster planning and better design so that the impact of an investment is maximised.

The NPG has representations from various connectivity infrastructure ministries/ departments, involving their heads of network planning division for unified planning and integration of the proposals. All these departments approach the NPG first for approval before making a DPR (Detailed Project Report) at the planning stage. After the NPG's clearance, the project follows the normal procedure of approval by the finance ministry and the Cabinet.

Over 1,600 layers of data, including those related to land, ports, forests, and highways, are available on the portal. Usage of the portal by different ministries, including social sector departments and states, is increasing, and it is helping in the proper planning of projects.

He added that work is also progressing on the district master plan to facilitate planning at district levels and in the initial phase, the plan was launched for 27 aspirational districts. Sectoral Plans for Efficient Logistics (SPEL) is being developed to address sector-specific needs and streamline the movement of bulk and break-bulk cargo.

Till now, SPEL for coal has been notified and finalised for the cement sector.