In India, half of all infrastructure projects are delayed, and one-fourth go over budget. Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that technology is the answer to these recurring and well-publicized impediments.
Modi’s administration is establishing a digital platform that unites 16 departments as part of a 100-trillion-rupee ($1.2 trillion) megaproject called PM Gati Shakti — Hindi for strength of speed. The platform would provide investors and businesses with a one-stop shop for project design, streamlined approvals, and cost calculation.
“The aim is to implement projects on time and on budget,” Amrit Lal Meena, special secretary of logistics at the ministry of commerce and industry, said in a New Delhi interview. “The goal is for global firms to choose India as their production centre.”
Fast-tracking projects will offer India an advantage, especially because China remains essentially closed to the rest of the world and firms are increasingly adopting a China-plus-one policy — seeking other countries to operate in or source from — to diversify their operations and supply chains. Despite dilapidated infrastructure, Asia’s third-largest economy not only provides inexpensive labour but also a talent pool of mostly English-speaking people.
The project’s main pillars are discovering new manufacturing clusters that do not exist now and seamlessly connecting those locations to the nation’s railway network, ports, and airports.
Using technology to reduce red tape is critical for India to unclog its delayed infrastructure projects. According to Meena, about 40% of the 1,300 projects overseen by Gati Shakti’s site have been delayed owing to challenges with land acquisition, forest and environmental permissions, resulting in cost overruns. At least 422 projects encountered difficulties, with the gateway resolving 200 of them.
According to a government organisation encouraging investments in India, Gati Shakti would utilise technology to ensure that a freshly constructed road is not dug up again to put out phone wires or gas pipes. According to Invest India, the government agency, the plan envisions infrastructure initiatives similar to what Europe achieved after WWII or what China accomplished between 1980 and 2010 to increase the country’s “competitive index.”
Since taking office in 2014, Modi has increased infrastructure expenditure to create new employment and support an economy battered by an aggressive surge of Covid-19 infections. He has had some initial success.
Apple Inc. will soon begin producing the iPhone 14 in India roughly two months after the product’s initial availability outside of China, while Samsung Electronics Co. will establish the world’s largest mobile phone factory in the nation in 2018. Ola Electric Mobility Pvt, a locally based company, has committed to establish the world’s largest electric scooter plant.
The Gati Shakti platform is also being used by the government to identify infrastructure deficiencies in last- and first-mile connections.
The government is prioritising 196 projects to fill gaps and improve port connection for the transportation of coal, steel, and food. The site is being used by the road transport ministry to develop 11 greenfield projects as part of the government’s $106 billion Bharatmala plan to build 83,677 kilometres (52,005 miles) of roads by 2022.
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