Bring industrial projects under GatiShakti: FM Sitharaman to NITI Aayog

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked the government’s policy think tank NITI Aayog to map different projects such as industrial corridors, freight corridors, National Industrial Manufacturing Zones, PLI-based industry parks, logistics parks and pharma hubs, among others to be incorporated under the GatiShakti initiative.

Chairing the first meeting of the apex monitoring authority constituted to review the activities of National Industrial Corridor Development programme, the Finance Minister said the GatiShakti national master plan was expected to bring greater coherence in all investments in infrastructure projects. She also suggested that the shipping ministry look at all seaports in the country and their linkages with industrial corridors.

Sitharaman is the chairperson of the monitoring authority. Commerce and industry minister, railway minister, shipping minister, minister of road transport and highways, vice-chairman, NITI Aayog, and chief ministers of states concerned. Chief ministers from six states — Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttarkhand, among others attended the meeting. The next meeting of the monitoring committee will be convened in November.

“I would like the NITI Aayog to map all this (industrial corridors, freight corridors, defence corridors, manufacturing zones, textile parks, logistics parks, medical and pharma hubs). Map it all and tell us where you see a possibility for bringing them under the PM Gati Shakti,” the minister said.

“I find many of them still lying loose and unconnected. Mapping it up will probably give a better idea of how they can all come into this scheme of things,” she said, adding that NITI Aayog has been asked to prepare the report by October-end.

She also urged Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to undertake a review of three industrial corridors in south India — the Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor and their nodes.

“For some reasons...the three corridors coming from the south have not been dealt with in an elaborate fashion,” Sitharaman said.

The government is developing various industrial corridor projects as part of the National Industrial Corridor Programme, aimed at developing greenfield industrial smart cities, which can compete with the best manufacturing and investment destinations in the world.

The National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) undertakes project development activities and acts as an intermediary for development and establishment of smart and self-sustainable industrial nodes.