New transport authority to vet every central project above Rs 500 crore: explained

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, approved the creation of an Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA), a new apex body meant to bring the planning of roads, railways, ports, airports, waterways and city transport under one roof. The authority will be set up as a special purpose vehicle under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It will prepare a National Transport Master Plan looking ten years or more ahead, carry out technical appraisal of central infrastructure projects costing Rs 500 crore or more, and monitor such projects once they are under way. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the decision, saying the authority would spur growth.

India's transport network is planned by many separate ministries and agencies. Roads, railways, ports, civil aviation and inland waterways each have their own departments, budgets and priorities, while cities plan their own metro and bus systems. The result has often been mismatched planning: a port expanded without matching rail or road links, a freight corridor that does not connect neatly to a logistics park, or a highway built where a railway line would have served better. ITLA is meant to fix this by giving one body the job of looking at the whole system.

The most practical change is in how big projects are checked. Any central infrastructure project costing Rs 500 crore or more will get a technical review from ITLA. In plain terms, the authority will ask whether the project fits the national plan, whether it links properly with other modes of transport, and whether its design makes sense. The money side of the decision stays with existing finance processes, so ITLA adds a planning check rather than replacing the current approval chain.

The data repository could matter just as much. E-way bills show where goods are moving, FASTag shows how vehicles use highways, and Vahan holds national vehicle registration records. Combining such sources could give planners a much clearer picture of real freight and passenger flows, rather than relying on old surveys.

There are open questions. The PM GatiShakti framework already routes large logistics and connectivity projects worth over Rs 500 crore through an inter-ministerial network planning group. Newspaper commentary has warned that duplication with PM GatiShakti must be avoided, and that data integration needs interoperability and safeguards. Reports so far do not give ITLA's budget, staffing or start date.

Short-term: Ministries will need to prepare for an extra technical review of large projects and for their plans to be checked against a common master plan once ITLA is running.

Long-term: Better-linked transport planning could cut logistics costs, reduce gaps between modes of transport and make public infrastructure spending more effective.

Who is affected: Central infrastructure ministries, state governments and city transport bodies, project developers and contractors, logistics companies, exporters, and travellers who use the network.

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