A master plan for the Pradhan Mantri GatiShakti for expressways will be formulated in 2022-23 for faster movement of goods and people, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech today.

For a faster facilitation of this programme the Centre will allocate Rs 1 lakh crore to assist the states; part of which will be used for PM GatiShakti. This allocation will be in the form a 50-year interest free loans which will be over and above the normal borrowings allowed to the states.

“PM Gati Shakti masterplan for expressways will be formulated in 2022-23 to facilitate faster movement of people and goods. The national highways network will be expanded by 25,000 kms in 2022-23,” Sitharaman said.

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The National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity, is essentially a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.

The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will encompass the seven engines — Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure — for economic transformation, seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency. It will also include the infrastructure developed by the state governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The focus will be on planning, financing including through innovative ways, use of technology, and speedier implementation.

Virendra D Mhaiskar, Chairman and Managing Director, IRB Infrastructure Developers said, “One of the strongest parts of this Budget is Government’s renewed commitment with its continued investment in strengthening the country’s infrastructure. The proposal to fund infrastructure through PM Gati Shakti, Public Private Partnerships will mark the escalation of economic prosperity. Roads is definitely one of the prominent sectors to get deserved focus through adequate funding.”

Funds mobilisation

Sitharaman also mentioned mobilisation of ₹20,000 crore through innovative ways of financing to complement the public resources. A few weeks ago, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari spoke about the possibility of engaging the general public into raising funds for highway projects wherein investors will get to invest as little as ₹100,000 for a 7-8 per cent annual return.

Rajeshwar Burla, Vice-President and Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said, “Given the rising debt levels at NHAI, the government decided to fund the capital outlay for national highway projects largely through budgetary support in FY23. Therefore, NHAI is unlikely to borrow incrementally in FY23. To plug this, the budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways has increased sharply by 73 per cent to ₹1.87-lakh crore in BEFY2023 from ₹1.08-lakh crore in BEFY2022 and 55 per cent higher than REFY2022 of ₹1.21-lakh crore.”

Logistics parks

Sitharaman also laid emphasis on developing the logistics sector in her speech. Contracts will be awarded by the government for implementation of multimodal logistic parks at four locations through public-private partnership (PPP) in 2022-23.

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