New Delhi: Aviation sector will now be a part of multi-modal logistics hubs in India to promote holistic logistics solutions, union minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
So far, highways, ports, inland waterways and railways were part of the multi-modal logistics hubs in India. Development of integrated logistics solutions will be part of Prime Minister's Flagship 'Make in India' programme.
"Government will bring aviation sector this time into multi-modal hubs as it has huge potential in the logistic sector also," road transport, highways and shipping minister
Gadkari said at a curtain-raiser event on India's first Integrated Transport and Logistic Summit on May 3-5The summit is expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore, he said.
The minister said that to transforming India's logistics from a point-to-point model to hub-and-spoke model is an effort to reduce logistics cost and ensure that multi-modal infrastructure comes up in the country in an integrated manner.
India is a growing economy and the high cost of logistics -- currently at 14 per cent of GDP -- is having a negative effect, he said. The minister also said that the government is committed to connect centres of high economic activity into corridors.
"Forty four economic corridors along with numerous feeder routes and inter corridor routes requiring consistent four lane infrastructure covering 55,000 km has been identified," he said.
Along with Golden Quadrilateral and North-South-East-West Corridors, these are expected to carry about 80 per cent of Indias total freight. The work on building these corridors has already started.
Talking about multi-modal logistics parks, the minister said that they will act as hubs for freight movement enabling freight aggregation and distribution, provide multi-modal freight transportation with modern mechanised warehousing space and value-added services.
Fifteen logistics parks are planned over the next five years while 20 more are to be developed in the next 10 years. He said that various state governments have come forward to lead this initiative and the Transport Ministry is going to start pre-feasibility study in two cities - Chennai and Vijayawada.
Another initiative -- RFID-based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) -- will enhance the efficacy of collection as 3.5 lakh vehicles have already been fitted with ETC tags. The minister said there is a huge domestic freight movement in India which needs to be addressed.
Gadkari said that the ministry is ready with a draft policy for development of logistics parks. "The land from logistics parks can come from states, and we will form a SPV with the state government. In case the land comes from private developer, we will form firm guidelines for land usage and implementation," he said.
The summit in May will have representation from both Indian and global logistics companies, end-user industries, industry bodies and academia. The summit will see participation from over 120 exhibitors, top global and Indian speakers and over 1,000 delegates.
All transportation ministries road, rail, waterways, shipping, aviation ? will come together to create a confluence of ideas.
