राष्ट्रीय मास्टर प्लान

Various transport and economic ministries have made massive infrastructure investments in the last 6 years under Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), Sagarmala, UDAN, Bharatmala, various sectoral economic clusters, industrial and economic corridors, etc. Thus, the brick-and-mortar work for creating an infrastructure pipeline has been done or is in advanced stages of implementation.

The task now at hand is to optimise the use of the infrastructure pipeline by identifying and filling the gaps in infrastructure and addressing other soft issues. It is in this direction that a National Master Plan is being made by following a geo-spatial rather than a sectoral approach.

The National Master Plan will; (i) provide systematic, multi modal connectivity to various economic zones for seamless movement of people, goods & service resulting in efficient conduct of logistics and economic activities; (ii)holistically integrate individual interventions of various Ministries/Departments with a national perspective; (iii) focus on a coordinated approach and time-bound implementation to minimise disruptions and bring in cost efficiency. The State and UT Master Plans will be designed in consonance with the National Master Plan and adopt demand-centric planning based on current needs as well as future opportunities. These will align with the National Master Plan on eighteen identified areas. Key elements of the state and UT master plans will include defining a road map to develop and upgrade logistics infrastructure and services with prioritisation of projects having major social and economic impact in states/UTs while ensuring future demand readiness.

The Logistics Division will also operationalise a technical support unit (TSU) including transport and design experts to develop and operate the National Master Plan. An inter-ministerial Network Planning Group (NPG) will also be constituted with representatives from various infrastructure Ministries and departments for unified planning and integration of the proposals. An Empowered Group of Secretaries (eGoS) will be entrusted with the responsibility for continuous monitoring, evaluation as well as granting approvals to upgradation in the Master plan as per emerging requirements in consultation with all stakeholders.