The cabinet clears the upper body to handle roads, railways, ports as one network

ITLA will prepare a long-term transport plan covering roads, railways, ports and shipping, civil aviation, inland waterways, coastal shipping, urban mobility and logistics, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Vaishnaw said. File | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) approved a special purpose vehicle – the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA) – which will be the apex body for planning, evaluating and monitoring transport and logistics projects, which are now handled separately by various ministries and agencies.

Its central task will be the National Master Transport Plan with a horizon of 10 years and more, covering all major modes of transport.

The transport ministries’ short-term sectoral plans of around five years and annual plans will be compared to this master plan so that new capacity is multi-modal rather than mode-by-mode, the statement said.

ITLA will also technically evaluate Government of India infrastructure projects worth ₹ 500 crore or more. The financial evaluation will remain with the existing mechanisms. The same boundary applies post-sanction: the authority will monitor the implementation of transport and infrastructure projects above ₹500 crore, operate a coordinated mechanism to address bottlenecks, and conduct impact assessments after completion of projects.

ITLA will build a national transport data repository that will draw from GSTN electronic freight bills, FASTag, Vahan, GPS-based systems and other databases.

Published – 06 Oct 2026 16:29 IST