Shri Kunal Soni IRSE, presently with North Western Railway, is transferred to Railway Board and appointed as Director – Gati Shakti, Station Development – IV, Railway Board.
The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, launched in October 2021, is a ₹100 lakh crore ($1.2 trillion USD) initiative by the Indian government to revolutionise infrastructure development and enhance multi-modal connectivity across the nation. This ambitious project aims to break down inter-ministerial silos by integrating the planning and execution of infrastructure projects across 16 ministries, including railways, roadways, ports, waterways, and aviation, onto a single digital platform utilizing GIS technology with over 1600 data layers.
The core objective is to reduce logistics costs (currently around 13-14% of GDP) to global standards (8%), boost manufacturing competitiveness, and create employment. Key targets include expanding the national highway network to 2 lakh km, increasing railway cargo handling capacity to 1600 million tons, adding 17,000 km to the gas pipeline network, and creating 220 new airports, heliports, and water aerodromes by 2024-25.
As of late 2024, over 200 major infrastructure projects worth over $180 billion have been assessed under Gati Shakti principles, with over 400 projects identified across energy, mineral, cement, and high-traffic density corridors. The scheme has onboarded 44 central ministries and all states/UTs, marking a significant step towards integrated and efficient infrastructure planning and execution.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes Shri Kunal Soni the very best.