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The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) has made tremendous progress in implementing the “PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP),” which aims to improve multi-modal and last-mile connectivity across the country.””Gati Shakti is a digital platform that would bring 16 ministries together, including railways and highways, to plan and build infrastructural links for industrial clusters and economic hubs.
The Ministry proposes to create 22 Greenfield Expressways, 23 other significant infrastructure projects & other highway projects, and 35 Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) as part of the PM Gati Shakti NMP, as part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana and other schemes of the Ministry.
History and Strategies for Overcoming Difficulties
Traditionally, there has been a lack of coordination between departments; for example, once a road has been built, other agencies will dig it up again for activities such as putting underground cables, gas pipelines, and so on. This was not only inconvenient, but it was also an unnecessary expense. To solve this, attempts were made to improve coordination so that all cables, pipes, and other infrastructure could be installed at the same time. Other difficulties, such as the lengthy approval procedure and the numerous regulatory clearances, have also been addressed. Through a holistic approach, the government has ensured unprecedented concentration on infrastructure in recent years.This contributes to resolving previous challenges by instituting holistic planning for stakeholders in big infrastructure projects. Rather than planning and designing in silos, the initiatives will be created and implemented with a shared vision.
PM Gati Shakti is built on the following six pillars
Comprehensiveness – A single centralised platform will include all present and planned projects from multiple Ministries and Departments. Every department will now have visibility into the actions of the others, giving important information for project planning and execution.
Prioritization – Various Departments will be able to prioritise their activities through cross-sectoral exchanges.
Optimization – Following the identification of important gaps, the National Master Plan will aid various ministries in planning initiatives.The plan will assist in determining the most efficient path for product delivery from one site to another in terms of both time and cost.
Synchronization – Individual Ministries and Departments frequently work in isolation. In the planning and implementation of the project, there is a lack of coordination, resulting in delays.. PM Gati Shakti will ensure that each department’s activities, as well as the numerous layers of governance, are synchronised holistically by ensuring work coordination between them.
Analytical – The plan will bring all of the data together in one location, using GIS-based spatial planning and analytical tools with 200+ levels, giving the executing agency improved visibility.
Dynamic – Though satellite imagery will give on-the-ground progress on a daily basis and project progress will be updated on a regular basis on the portal, all Ministries and Departments will be able to visualise, review, and monitor the development of cross-sectoral projects through the GIS platform. It will aid in the identification of essential interventions for the upgrading and update of the master plan.
Projects of the Mumbai Port Trust that promote multimodal connection
Mumbai Port Trust is working on a number of projects to promote multimodal connectivity, in keeping with Prime Minister Gati Shakti’s aspirations. “The Trust’s purpose is to create a balance between cargo and ship demands on the one hand, and the city’s and people’s needs on the other,” said CMD Shri Rajeev Jalota.
The multimodal connectivity master plan of the Mumbai Port Trust is based on two pillars: cargo-related initiatives and maritime tourism.
1. Mumbai Port Trust’s Cargo-Related Projects
Expanding POL capacity – Marine Oil Terminal is building the world’s largest crude oil jetty, with a capacity of 22 million tonnes per year and pipeline connectivity for its evacuation.
Bunkering Terminal – This project takes advantage of the almost 5,000 ships that enter Mumbai Harbour each year, and uses pipeline connectivity to evacuate them.
Facility for LNG handling – This project will deliver LNG as clean energy up to 5 million tonnes per year without putting a strain on landside utilities because the Floating Terminal will be in the sea and LNG will be evacuated through pipelines connected to the National Grid.
Barging of containers between JNPT and Mumbai – Container barging between JNPT and Mumbai: The goal of this initiative is to get more containers from JNPT by waterways link, travelling only 14 kilometres and avoiding a 120-kilometre road journey with its attendant pollution and traffic congestion.
Coastal features include
Indira Docks berths 10, 11 and 11, as well as a shed, are dedicated solely for the handling of coastal cargo.
Private companies are erecting temporary silos for bulk Cement Fly Ash commodities on MbPT land. A request for expressions of interest has already been sent out.
Rail Connectivity Enhancement
Most notably, Mumbai Port is revamping its rail assets on two fronts to increase rail access to the dedicated rail freight route to Delhi. On the one hand, it plans to reorganise and enhance the railway network and operations by handing over the rail assets to the Indian Port Railway & Ropeway Corporation Ltd, a dedicated government company. A specialised rail route for port freight movement from Wadala to Kurla, on the other hand, is being built.
2. Mumbai Port Trust’s Sea Tourism Projects
The Mumbai International Cruise Terminal (ICT) – which is under construction at Ballard Pier extension berth at an estimated cost of Rs. 500 crores, is the most important and ambitious project for Cruise Tourism, not only for Mumbai but for India. This terminal will be utilised not just by cruise ships, but also by city residents, as it will have retail stores, restaurants, recreational places, and other amenities.
1 km- long Mumbai Port Waterfront at Prince’s & Victoria Dock Wall –This integrated water transport hub would have all modern necessities for recreation and commuting for city dwellers, including a 1 km long Mumbai Port Waterfront at Prince’s & Victoria Dock Wall.
Ro-Pax Terminal – The Ro-Pax Terminal is an excellent example of using waterways for commuting and tourism movements while reducing traffic congestion on the roads. The introduction of Ro-Pax services between Mumbai and Mandwa provides a new mode of commuter and tourist transit between these two significant nodes. This will be extended to connect to Navi Mumbai’s new airport, which is set to open soon. The Ropax ship is now operational, providing a significant relief to visitors who are using multimodal transportation that includes both roads and waterways.
Ropeway between Sewri and Elephanta – The world’s longest ropeway over the sea, measuring around 8 kilometres, will be developed in a public-private partnership (PPP) at a cost of around Rs.700 crores. This project would provide a new form of transportation for the city’s residents while also providing a spectacular view of marine infrastructure such as ships, the Marine Oil Terminal, and the future Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, among others.
Conclusion
BISAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics) developed the plan as a Digital Master Planning tool, and it was prepared in a dynamic Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, with data on specific action plans from all Ministries/Departments incorporated into a comprehensive database. A map built by BISAG-N will allow dynamic mapping of all infrastructure projects with real-time updates. The map will be produced using open-source tools and hosted on MEGHRAJ, the government of India’s cloud. It will make use of ISRO satellite photos and Survey of India base maps.The database of ongoing and planned projects from multiple Ministries has been merged with 200+ GIS layers, allowing for more coordinated planning, design, and execution of infrastructure projects.
