Gati Shakti plan will positively impact manufacturing & exports of the country.

- Vivek Lohia

Director, Jupiter Group, Chairman, National Council of Railways, ASSOCHAM

How do you perceive the opportunities and demand for industry players under GSNMP?

The government has pushed for significant reforms to boost India's growth story. One of them being Gati Shakti. By doing away with silos of departmentalism, the infrastructure roadmap will see faster and efficient completion. It is expected to increase the cargo handling capacity of railways to 1600 MT by the year 2024-25 thus accelerating the construction of two dedicated freight corridors. Even metro works have picked up and we can see India having a top-notch multi-modal transport hub in the coming years. These efforts will see greater last mile connectivity and increase the pace of economic prosperity.

The following figures may be considered while building up the response.

Projections: 12 billion passengers per year by 2031. 2024 million tons freight by 2024. Capital expenditure of 29.5 billion dollars in 2021-2022. 83% increase in average freight train speed. 6015 kms of electrification by 2021 and 33000 kms by 2023 with an estimated expenditure of 2 billion per year. Solar panels on roof top as source of energy supply through renewable energy sources. Redevelopment of 400 stations by 2022. 6 Dedicated Freight Corridor. 35 bullet trains by 2022 at an outlay of 17 billion US dollars. Achieve green mission for 1000 railway station by electrification of entire railway network annual energy saving will be 1.55 billion US dollar.

How do you see the GatiShakti mission accelerating the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission?

GatiShakti is aimed at bringing together various departments under one umbrella thus seeing the acceleration in completion of projects. The plan will definitely strengthen India's position on the world map while also giving a boost to our local manufacturers. This ambitious plan which will positively impact manufacturing and exports of the country will play a key factor in making Atmanirbhar Bharat a success.

Railways have already introduced government e-market plat (GeM), an innovative idea for procurement for about Rs. 70,000 crores window made open to remote places and MSME sectors. Indian Railways have introduced Rail Kaushal Vikash Yojana to further Atmanirbhar Bharat to train 50,000 youths in the age group 18-35 years over the next 3 years. India's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Coaches will be manufactured at the Savli Plant of Bombardier in Gujrat. These coaches are first 'Made in India' coaches. Ballastess tracks are being designed by NCRTC under 'Make in India' program. Platforms, screen doors will be manufactured by Bharat Electronics in India. DMRC signalling technology will be introduced under 'Make in India' initiative.

Could you throw some light on the challenges or hurdles that the private sector is likely to face initially?

The initial challenges that one could face is the easy available of funds and navigating through the new modus operandi. However, we strongly believe that this plan is only going to benefit the country and take it to newer heights.

• Consistent and continued flow of orders, assurance of return on investment by the private sectors.
• Fast tracking vendor registration procedure in the railway system rationalisation of pre-qualification criteria to promote start up enterprises.
• Integrating global standards into a national standardisation module to provide relief from high value technology transfer costs.

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