Bangladesh & Japan Expresses Interest in Gati Shakti Plan
The Gati Shakti Master Plan, which aims to reduce logistics costs in India to levels comparable to developed nations, has garnered international interest. The plan may first be offered to Bangladesh for cross-border infrastructure projects before a separate product is developed for overseas project planning and execution. The Japanese side has also shown great interest. The countries looking to get on the board will get limited access to the Gati Shakti website to experience how projects are brought from the drawing board to execution. The Union government may decide to share the tech used in Gati Shakti. Bangladesh certainly wants to plan certain policy interventions to maybe replicate that in the country. Gati Shakti is also relevant for the ministry of External Affairs for international cooperation in infrastructure related to railways or roadways and areas like cargo terminal have been identified to be taken up with different countries including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India’s logistics sector is currently fragmented and unorganized, resulting in logistics costs that are as high as 14-15% of GDP. In comparison, developed nations such as Singapore and the US have kept their logistics costs below 7-8% of GDP. The National Logistics Policy(NLP) and Gati Shakti aims to integrate the logistics sector and bring costs down to 8% in the next five years. Among other types of projects identified for the use of Gati Shakti are international projects such as Chabahar Port, if the host country is willing and is keen on cooperating. The plan is to offer the PM Gati Shakti model to countries where India is already implementing projects. Later other interested countries could be offered this integrated planning and execution tools. The master plan will be portrayed as a unique product using state-of-the art technology which will reform governance, especially project implementation and management.
Tags : Gati Shakti Master Plan reduce logistics cost India developed nations international interest GDP