News Brief
Unlocking Data For Infra Development: Private Players Likely To Get Access To PM Gati Shakti Portal By Year-End
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan has completed three years today (13 October), it may soon be open for use by private players, offering a treasure trove of geospatial data to private firms to fuel infrastructure development.
The government aims to provide access to the NMP portal to the private sector by end of this year, with discussions underway to determine the details.
However, the government is working to identify and separate layers of sensitive data to allow sharing of the remaining data with private entities.
All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, entailing investments of over Rs 500 crore are now routed through the Network Planning Group (NPG) constituted under the PM GatiShakti initiative launched on 13 October 2021.
The portal currently offers over 1,600 layers of data, including those related to land, ports, forests, and highways, but access is currently limited to central and state governments only.
The Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Amardeep Singh Bhatia, said that while some layers of data on the NMP are sensitive and should not be exposed, the government is working to identify and address these concerns through consultations with the private sector.
With the district-level pilot project underway, the government aims to launch the master plan before the end of 2024.
In addition, the government is planning to extend the PM GatiShakti national master plan (NMP) portal to infrastructure projects in neighbouring countries.
Bhatia further said that the government has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Nepal and Sri Lanka to utilise the PM GatiShakti NMP for infrastructure planning in these countries.
However, he clarified that the NMP would not be used for revenue generation with friendly neighbouring countries.
Launched in October 2021, the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) has onboarded 44 Central Ministries and 36 States/UTs and a total of 1,614 data layers to ensure integrated planning and coordinated execution of infrastructure projects.
