Government Leveraging Data Mining for Infrastructure Development By Ashwani Rawat, Co-founder and Director, Transerve Technologies

Introduction

The use of data to enhance governance procedures, quicken project and programme implementation, and guarantee that deliverables are delivered in a more timely and efficient manner may be of enormous advantage to the government. Data is playing a key role in the domain of infrastructure development as well, with data and analytics now having a substantial impact on important business decisions across industries.

Overview of the Infrastructure Sector in India

The Indian economy's main driver is the infrastructure industry. The sector receives great attention from the government in order to implement policies that would assure the country's creation of world-class infrastructure within a set amount of time. This sector plays a significant role in driving India's overall growth. Power, bridges, dams, highways, and urban infrastructure development are all included in the infrastructure industry. In other words, the infrastructure sector propels the development of related industries, including townships, housing, built-up infrastructure, and construction development projects, acting as a catalyst for India's economic growth.

Infrastructure development is essential if India is to achieve its goal of having a $5 trillion economy by 2025. In order to boost the growth of the infrastructure industry, the government has introduced the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), along with other programmes like "Make in India" and the production-linked incentives (PLI) programme. Historically, funding for transportation, energy, and water and irrigation has accounted for more than 80% of the country's infrastructure spending.

Although these areas continue to get the majority of the government's attention, other sectors are now receiving attention as India's environment and demographics change. In order to guarantee economic growth, improve quality of life, and promote sectoral competitiveness, there is an urgent need for enhanced and improved delivery across the whole infrastructure spectrum, from housing provision to water and sanitation services to digital and transportation demands.

Challenges in infrastructure management and analysis

One sector where data is crucial for efficient planning and decision-making is infrastructure development. Data help improve policymaking. However, data-driven planning at the outset of a project is necessary for this to be effective. 

For instance, maps in paper format served as the main information source for decision-making for the Department of Science and Technology within the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. These maps are rarely updated in real-time affecting the decision-making process.

The ability to develop good infrastructure plans and accurately measure the impact of various projects carried out in various areas has been greatly hampered by the lack of a database with scientific management and analysis of infrastructure information. Even the currently accessible data are questionable in terms of dependability and accuracy because so much information was either gathered for a specific study or with a specific objective in mind.

Additionally, it can be challenging to find the data because it is spread across so many different organizations. Moreover, the data does not allow for any form of trend analysis and is not accessible at regular intervals. This appears to be a significant issue across India, which is why managing and analysing the infrastructure continues to be difficult.

Gati Shakti to Leverage Data Mining for Infrastructure Development

The Prime Minister's Gati Shakti National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity has the potential to completely alter the way that problems with data accessibility in connectivity and infrastructure development are managed. It is a revolutionary strategy for achieving both economic growth and sustainable development, and it is propelled by seven engines: roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways, and logistics infrastructure.

The Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), built for application programming interfaces, will be used for data interchange among all mode operators (API). All interested parties will receive real-time information as a result, increasing global competitiveness.

The development of technology has made it possible for decision-makers to begin utilising spatially referenced data and information, which will aid in this strategy. The Gati Shakti Master Plan's proposed GIS-enabled (geographically-enabled information system) mapping of infrastructure development may be an effective way to overcome coordination and implementation issues that cause implementation delays.

It will include information about all cross-sectoral projects in association with the Gati Shakti Master Plan. Furthermore, it will ease the review, monitoring, and evaluation processes of projects.

It will provide details on all cross-sectoral initiatives connected to the Gati Shakti Master Plan. Additionally, it will make the process of project review, monitoring, and evaluation easier.

It is anticipated that it will display up-to-date information on ongoing initiatives as well as upcoming projects.

In summary, the Gati Shakti Master Plan has the ability and potential to bring together many departments and ministries that currently operate separately. If it does, it will aid policymakers in making smart decisions. By giving and facilitating access to all pertinent information on a single platform, it would also effectively minimise the efforts, costs, and time of academia, researchers, and other stakeholders.