New Delhi: India is looking to expand access to the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) portal to include the private sector this year. This move is expected to streamline the planning and execution of crucial infrastructure projects.
Currently, the infrastructure platform is only accessible to government departments and state agencies. Discussions are underway to grant limited access to private sector companies, according to Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Amardeep Singh Bhatia. He assured that sensitive data on the NMP will remain secure and not be accessible.
“We are in the process of identifying the parameters for private sector access. Consultations with industry stakeholders are ongoing, and we are aiming to roll out this initiative within the year,” Bhatia stated during an event commemorating the third anniversary of PM GatiShakti.
The PM GatiShakti program aims to develop integrated infrastructure to lower logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects requiring investments exceeding Rs 500 crore are now channeled through the Network Planning Group (NPG) established under the PM GatiShakti initiative launched on October 13, 2021.
Bhatia highlighted that the portal provides access to over 1,600 layers of data related to land, ports, forests, and highways for the planning and implementation of infrastructure projects by the Centre and states.
In a recent development, a committee was set up to evaluate the National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) and the Unified Geospatial Interface platform developed by the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) for data sharing.
The DPIIT and BISAG-N are collaborating to establish a framework for providing registered users access to the NGDR platform and certain data layers in a view-only format, as well as integrating updated land record data at the district level.
Bhatia mentioned that Nepal and Sri Lanka have expressed interest in the initiative, with discussions underway with Sri Lanka. Under the PM GatiShakti initiative, 208 major infrastructure projects from various ministries, including roads and railways, amounting to ₹15.39 lakh crore, have been recommended for approval.
