The Prime Minister during his special address stressed on the importance of integrated planning and breaking of siloes across various stakeholders including Central Government Ministries, State Governments and Private sector to optimize resource deployment. PM GatiShakti National Master Plan is the first step in the direction for enabling integrated infrastructure planning, efficient coordination and monitoring and will reduce time and cost overruns in project execution, he pointed out.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the capital expenditure by the central government has increased from Rs. 2.5 Lakh Crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 7.5 Lakh Crore in 2022-23. The government has increased investment across infrastructure sectors such as National Highways, Railways, Civil Aviation, Waterways, Optical Fiber, Gas Grid and Renewable Energy. The Prime Minister also emphasized that the State governments have been given Rs. 1 Lakh Crore in 2022-23 for infrastructure development under PM GatiShakti.

The Prime Minister underlined that the logistics cost in the country needs to be reduced from the current levels of 13 - 14% of GDP. This will require coordinated action between the government and private sector. He assured the stakeholders that their suggestions will be given due consideration in policy making by the government.

The breakout session on the theme of “Enablers for Logistics Efficiency” was organized and moderated by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways. The breakout session saw participation and engagement from 20+ panelists from the industry and infrastructure agencies, including eminent personalities such as Shri Harikishan Koppula Reddy (CEO, Cube Highways), Shri Vikram Jaisinghani (CEO, Adani Logistics), Shri Benjamin Fauchier Delavigne (Asia Sales Manager, POMA), and Shri Sachin Bhanushali (CEO, GRFL).

The breakout session commenced with an address by Chairperson NHAI, Smt. Alka Upadhyaya. Smt. Upadhyaya sought the inputs of stakeholders on 4 sub-themes of Master Plan for Expressways, PM GatiShakti Cargo Terminals & Multimodal Logistics Parks, Parvatmala: Improving Last-mile Hill Connectivity, and Sagarmala: Port Integration with Conventional Transport System.

On Master Plan for Expressways, Shri Reddy suggested that high-speed connectivity should be ensured to all major economic centers. Expressway network should complement existing National & State Highway network, he added. Panelists suggested that a workable financing model needs to be developed for PPP concessionaires and credit availability should be improved through early operationalization of Development Finance Institution (DFI). Time-bound Forest, Wildlife, Mineral and other approvals at central and state level were emphasized.

On PM GatiShakti Cargo Terminals & Multimodal Logistics Parks, automatic provision of custom bonding facilities and other clearances at MMLPs and Cargo Terminals identified in PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, was suggested. Shri Jaisinghani stressed on inter-Ministerial coordination to ensure truly multi-modal connectivity (road, rail) and time-bound clearances from central Ministries (e.g., environment) and state governments. Proposal was also made to improve flexibility in policy for enabling asset recycling and longer concession period to attract private investors in the sector.

On Parvatmala, Shri Delavigne highlighted the need to have flexibility in selection of technologies in view of safety requirements and use of alternate PPP modes (Hybrid Annuity Mode) for attracting private investment. Panelists suggested that regulatory framework needs to be liberalized to promote and develop sector including tariff policies and air rights norms in urban areas. Clearance regime needs to be liberalized through exemption of Environment clearance and time-bound Forest clearance, panelists added. Capacity building through setting up of Centre of Excellence through IITs and NSDC skill courses was suggested to grow the ropeway ecosystem in line with Prime Minister’s vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Make in India”.

On Sagarmala, Shri Bhanushali suggested use of innovative modes of financing and cost recovery for port connectivity projects. Panelists stressed on provision of multi-modal connectivity to all ports supported by time-bound land acquisition and clearances from State Governments. Central ministries, State governments and port operators should effectively utilize BISAG-N portal for coordination, they added.

In his concluding remarks, Secretary MoRT&H Shri Giridhar Aramane thanked the stakeholders and underlined that the suggestions shall be duly reviewed by the respective ministries and an action plan will be drawn up for its implementation in a time-bound manner.