Gati Shakti initiatives 

— "Ministries are using Gati Skati national masterplan to develop project alignments. Gati Skati brings to the table, the power of technology and government working together."   link

— "In Railways, last mile connectivity is a major cause of high freight costs, and in telecoms, work is held up by messy Rights of Way conflicts with States. Now States are fully engaged and we are plugging connectivity gaps in a comprehensive way."  link

"As against our plan to meet once a month, Network Planning group has held 29 meetings in July 2022! Earlier only heads of planning depts of 7 ministries were involved, now we have 30 ministries constantly in touch with each other."

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• GS helps identify opportunities for multimodal connectivity, and gaps in connectivity [eg. 4-lane connectivity to all districts] or infrastructure [eg. emergency helipads, suitable hospitals]. It helps avoid built-up areas (or, land acquisition problems) and minimises hazards like wide river crossings, forests, wildlife sanctuary, etc. GS identifies many other ways to optimise [eg. lay utilities/ pipelines under roads, solar panels over canals/ dams, and use of existing RoW (right of way) permits], and these can be taken up expeditiously by respective departments. 

One way to optimise is to plan for expected future growth, eg. with higher initial land acquistion, wider base construction [eg. wider bridges, wider road foundations], multi-level flyovers in cities [6-lane elevated road and overhead metro], space for HSR near/ over new expressways, and higher capacities of pipelines, transmission lines and telecom OFC. 

For example, NHAI officials held a conference to digitally draft alignments of 5 expressways at the pre-feasibility stage. They chose the Gati Skati masterplan tool: Gati Shakti helps draw an alignment in a matter of days rather than 3-4 months, and inter-departmental clearances (eg. forest) can be obtained online.

For example, Power ministry set out to develop transmission corridors for 6 states—Raj, Guj, MP, Maha, Kar, and TN— with the highest potential for renewable energy. 9 major transmission projects were identified with Gati Skati tool & mapped on the National Master Plan (NMP) portal. Most existing and under-construction transmission projects were integrated and others were finalised after route surveys by respective developers.

For example, Railways is tasked to increase freight capacity to 3 billion tonnes (2021 freight carried was just 1.23bt), as well as eliminate bottlenecks [eg. at highly congested or overused routes] and increase cost-efficiency. It must also create sufficient rail capacity to ensure quick transport of agri products (eg foodgrains) to the hinterland. Gati Shakti tool has already identified 3 routes and work has started on 1 doubling project (Rs 1120cr). 

For example, Gati Shakti is being introduced at division levels of Railway zones to further fast-track railway projects and improve local services. 4 divisions of SWR were brought under the PM’s GS initiative and work was started [remodelling yards and augmenting of terminal facilities], which is expected to enhance Bangaluru suburban services from March 2023.

• Since April 2022, finance ministry mandates all public projects over Rs 500 crore to set out details of logistics and infrastructure connectivity. So, all public-funded projects will be examined by an inter-ministerial body under the PM GatiShakti [Network Planning Group].

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Earlier version of Gati Shakti used in Gujarat   link  Innovative solution to Gujarat's water crisis

From the article:

"The planning of complex infrastructure projects follows satellite mapping. The delays .. from forest approvals, protected coastal zones, wildlife zones, approvals from different departments like railways, etc. are all sorted at the conception stage itself ... Route planning was done to avoid approvals where possible and appovals were fast-tracked and made online, since all domain ministries and departments are present on the same portal."

Gati Shakti will serve as a national templete for realising infrastructure build-up of $1.3 trillion in the next few years. The very same principles of GS were used much earlier, btw 2001 to 2014, by PM Modi when as the chief minister of Gujarat, he set out to develop the highly complex, state-wide irrigation system (see: Narmada Main Canal, Sujalam Sufalam Yojana & SAUNI Yojana). Each system of canals and pipelines serves one of 3 arid regions of Gujarat (out of 5 regions).

Gujarat was hit by 12 major droughts in 21 years to 2001 (before Modi became CM of Gujarat). Other years had water scarcity. Groundwater levels of all districts of Gujarat and Kutch had dropped from 30m to over 150m from 1975 to 2001. Most of Gujarat would have become a desert in the next decades, with implications for mass migration and security at the international border.

Scientific approach was adopted by CM Modi whereby he used satellite technology to form a holistic map of the landmass, with details such as road and rail network, administrative boundaries, slope, type of soil, land-use, geology, landform, forest details, sanctuary and national park, etc. Every square centimeter of land (particularly water bodies), private and public infrastructure was mapped.

The project was started as a mass public movement, where tens of thousands of check dams were built for trapping water from rainflows. The check dams would help to raise ground water levels. Over 160,000 check dams were built till 2016, and 0.8 billion cubic meters of water each year was stored in this way. 

Also, 3 major canal projects (see article & inserts) were planned and implemented with a precise and scientific methodology, using satellite mapping and GS-like tool. Canals were built to fill large water-bodies (eg existing, non-perennial lakes) in far away places, and extra effort was made to fully utilise Narmada flood waters.

 

Besides the build-up of canal infrastructure, height of water at the head dam (Sardar Sarovar Dam) was progessively raised after lengthy, well-publised legal battles against the might of foreign-backed NGOs and an equally hostile Central UPA goverment.The official closure to the legal battles, came in 2019, when Centre (with Modi as PM) approved the closure of 30 17m-high gates, which was pending for years. I wrote link: 

"Water storage capacity will increase from 1.27 MAF to 4.73 MAF, enabling irrigation of 1.8m ha and benefiting 40m people in 9,000 villages. Gujarat has overcome many hurdles to reach this stage. After 7 years of inaction under UPA, permission to install the gates was finally given by PM Modi on taking office in 2014. At the podium to mark this feat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani termed it a “golden moment in the history of Gujarat.” NB. also 40% increase in hydropower to over 1 billion units!