Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Oct 06
India’s Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the creation of an Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority to coordinate planning, appraisal and monitoring across the country’s transport sectors.
The authority will be established as a special purpose vehicle and will focus on research, project appraisal, monitoring, impact assessment and policy support.
The government said the move was aimed at addressing fragmented planning and implementation across transport ministries and agencies.
The authority will serve as the apex body for integrated transport and logistics planning and will prepare a National Transport Master Plan with a horizon of at least 10 years.
The plan will cover roads, railways, ports and shipping, civil aviation, inland waterways, coastal shipping, urban mobility and logistics.
ITLA will also assess sectoral plans covering about five years and annual plans of transport ministries to ensure they align with the national master plan.
The authority will technically appraise central government infrastructure projects costing Rs 500 crore or more. Financial appraisal will continue under existing mechanisms.
It will monitor projects above the same threshold, help resolve implementation problems and conduct post-completion impact assessments.
The authority will establish a National Transport Data Repository by integrating data from sources including GSTN e-way bills, FASTag, Vahan, GPS-based systems and urban traffic management systems.
The database will support analysis of freight movements and origin-destination patterns for transport planning and project monitoring.
ITLA will also advise on the review and updating of the National Logistics Policy, 2022, and support training, skills development, research and innovation in the logistics sector.
The government said the new institution would help improve multimodal connectivity, raise infrastructure efficiency, reduce logistics costs and strengthen India’s competitiveness in global logistics.
