The Union Cabinet on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) approved a Special Purpose Vehicle — the Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority (ITLA) — which will be the apex body to plan, appraise and monitor transport and logistics projects that are now handled separately by different ministries and agencies.
Its central task will be a National Transport Master Plan with a horizon of 10 years or more, covering every major mode.
Short-term sectoral plans of about five years, and the annual plans of the transport ministries, will be checked against that master plan so that new capacity is multi-modal rather than mode by mode, according to a statement.
ITLA will also technically appraise Government of India infrastructure projects costing ₹500 crore or more. Financial appraisal will stay with the existing mechanisms. The same threshold applies after sanction: the authority will monitor implementation of transport and infrastructure projects above ₹500 crore, run a coordinated mechanism for resolving bottlenecks, and carry out impact assessments once projects are completed.
