The 65th meeting of the Network Planning Group (NPG) was held to evaluate five road, rail and urban transit projects from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Ministry of Railways (MoR), and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) from the perspective of integrated planning based on the PM GatiShakti principles.

At the meeting, the MoRTH discussed the highway projects in Goa, Meghalaya, and Assam.

These projects pertain to the four-laning of 45 km stretch of NH-66 in the state of Goa and development-cum-upgradation of Mawlyngkhung–Panchgram road from 2-lane to 4-lane in the state of Meghalaya and Assam, including the greenfield stretch of 118 km and brownfield stretch of 43 km.

Both projects will have wider economic impacts, including a reduction in logistics costs, reduction in traffic congestion, and increase in average speed of traffic.

The Ministry of Railways discussed the construction of a Rail-Over-Rail (ROR) bulb line in Bihar. A railways project for the construction of a bulb line at Nabinagar (Ankorha) of approximately 17.49 km in the Aurangabad district of Bihar was examined.

The construction of the ROR bulb line would result in grade separation of two railway lines leading to reduced detention of trains, decline in transit time, increase in logistics efficiency of coal movement to Nabinagar power plant in the vicinity, and enhanced section capacity utilisation of main lines.

The MoHUA discussed the urban metro transit projects in Bangalore and Delhi/NCR at the meeting. The meeting also discussed the two urban transit metro corridor projects of MoHUA, including the Rithala-Bawana-Narela–Kundli (Haryana) Metro Corridor of DMRC in the NCR region and Phase-3 of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project of 44.65 km with 2 corridors from JP Nagar to Kempapura along ORR and Hosahalli to Kadabagere along the Magadi road.

Both projects will result in multi-modal integration of metro with bus and rail stations, decongestion of roads, travel time savings, fuel cost savings, reliable operation and performance, and reduction in vehicular emission and pollution.

The NPG suggested the project proponents plan for adequate transition infrastructure where the inter-modal interface is involved.

The project details were examined based on the planning/mapping of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP).

Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Rajeev Singh Thakur chaired the meeting, and it was emphasised that these projects will play a pivotal role in nation-building.