NEW DELHI: The government’s in-principle go ahead to setting up of an apex federal agency for planning and monitoring of all modes of surface transport, railways, shipping, civil aviation and mass transit at national level, and logistics sector is set to bring a paradigm shift in the country’s infrastructure planning and accelerated development. The new entity — GatiShakti Transport Planning and Research Organisation (GTPRO) — to be housed in the Cabinet Secretariat will eliminate at least two layers of project approval process, which take around 60 days.TOI on October 9 had first reported the go ahead given for GTPRO at a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi, which was attended by five cabinet ministers and secretaries from related ministries, and other top officials. Sources said DPIIT has been tasked to prepare a proposal for the Cabinet for setting up of the new entity, which will be headed by a senior officer designated as secretary (transport planning).
Proposed to be set up under Section-8 of the Companies Act, the GTPRO will include PM GatiShakti framework, logistics and supply chain, transport sector (research and planning), transport big data, project monitoring and impact assessment for all infrastructure projects.Role of GTPRO:The agency would be responsible for roll out of Master Plan or integrated plan; it will appraise sectoral plans such as rail, road and aviation, appraise all projects that cost over Rs 500 crore, monitor projects and assess their impact, and to have a repository of Big Data.The ministries concerned will prepare sector plans for five and 10 years, execute and monitor them as well.Govt expects that the new entity will bring a system of structured framework to initiate master planning and will have datasets that are required for planning and research. It is also expected to put a well placed mechanism for continuous flow of expertise and promote knowledge-sharing in planning.Why GTPRO needed?The need to have an Integrated Transport Planning Authority (ITPA) was mooted by three empowered Group of Secretaries in November 2023 and the presentation on transformational change before PM Modi. They had suggested the ITPA could be akin to the establishments in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Japan to deal with all issues relating to transportation.They had proposed that the new entity would help take the best decisions for creating the right infrastructure keeping in mind the value for money. Then it was envisaged that the agency will coordinate with states for key infrastructure projects. They had proposed integrated transportation solutions with a target to achieve over 42% movement of freight by rail or waterways by 2030. The plan envisaged to increase the average speed of freight trains to 40 kmph by 2030 as compared to the current speed of 24 kmph and also to to increase the average speed of trucks from current 25-40 kmph to more than 40 kmph by 2030.At present, there is no apex agency to deal with transportation issues as a whole in India. Each ministry has its own vision document, there is no brainstorming among ministries and no defined 5-year or 10-year plans. PM Gatishakti National Master Plan has played in project evaluation, but the impact was not as per expectation. There is monitoring by different agencies and by different frameworks while no agency to suggest global best practices, new technologies, no agency to do policy advocacy and recommend changes in Acts and Rules.The government felt the need for transport planning considering that India needs a direction with infrastructure investment, which has been increasing over the past decade. Sources said there is a need for a super specialised expertise in transport planning as China and South Korea.The administration also realised that the current planning is primarily consultant-driven, with minimal collaboration among ministries and states. Also, there is no central agency responsible for policy advocacy or recommending changes to Acts and Rules to improve planning and project implementation. Sources added that there is no mechanism for mid-course correction in case of project failures.Next steps:As per proposal, GatiShakti division, project monitoring and logistics division of DPIIT may be placed in Cabinet Secretariat. Proposal to seek cabinet nod for the organisation may be completed within 90 days.The road covered so far* Oct 2013: PM GatiShakti National Master Plan covering seven sector — road, rail, ports, waterways, airports, mass transport & logistics infrastructure — focussed on integrated planning & evaluation* Dec 2023 to Aug 2025 : Meetings conducted with various countries & institutions, including Korea Transport Institute, Infrastructure Australia, World Bank, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism of Japan, IITs, IIMs & ADB* Studies have found the need for strong institutional mechanism for transport planning, need for transportation and sectoral plans, scientific research by government-funded institutions & close coordination of ministries and research institutions
