While presenting the Union Budget 2022-’23 in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan, an initiative to attract private investments for the transport sector. She said that the plan would take the country’s economy forward and create more jobs.
“The Budget seeks to lay a blueprint for next 25 years,” Sitharaman said. “PM Gati Shakti is a transformative approach.”
The project aims to bring together 16 ministries including railways and roadways for smoother and faster implementation of infrastructure projects across the country.
Sitharaman said that the project is driven by seven engines including roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways and logistics infrastructure.
“All seven engines will pull forward the economy in unison,” Sitharaman said. “Supported by energy transmission, IT communication, bulk water and sewerage and social infrastructure”
The finance minister announced that the Centre will expand the national highway network by 25,000 km in 2022-23 under the master plan.
The finance minister also said that 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains would be manufactured by 2025 as part of the master plan. The trains would have better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience, she said.
The Indian Railways is already manufacturing 44 Vande Bharat trains to run on at least 75 routes by August 2023, PTI reported.
“100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals will also develop during next 3 years,” Sitharaman said during her Budget speech.
The government said it would also award contracts for eight ropeway projects for a length of 60 km along with contracts for multimodal logistics parks at four locations through public-private partnership mode in 2022-’23.
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