Govt proposes 15 logistics parks at Rs 33,000 cr

To reduce transportation cost and minimise pollution, the government plans to set up 15 logistics park in cities with high freight movement at an investment of about Rs 33,000 crore.
The proposal is consequent to the announcement made by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari that reducing logistics cost can boost the country's exports 1.5 times, besides leading to faster economic development.
"It is proposed to develop logistics parks in 15 cities with highest freight movement (covering more than 40 per cent of the total road freight movement in India) in Phase I of the programme," the Road Transport and Highways Ministry said in its proposal.

It said the expected development of logistics parks in the top 15 nodes will require capital investment of Rs 33,000 crores.
The amount will be required for land acquisition, construction of storage space and development of allied infrastructure.
A comparison between India and US reveals that road freight cost in India is Rs 1.9 per tonne per km, almost double than that of US.

In phase II, the government plans to develop 20 more logistics parks.
"A total of 4,800 acres is needed for the development of the proposed 15 multimodal logistics parks, including land for storage space, allied infrastructure, trunk infrastructure and land for future expansion. A total cost of Rs 10,700 crores will be needed for land acquisition," it said.

It said 2,000 acres of storage space will be developed in the proposed 15 logistics parks. This will include open storage required for handling bulk commodities, closed storage required for handling break bulk commodities (primarily FMCG and white goods) and specialised storage required for handling perishables.
"A total cost of Rs 10,400 crores will be required for development of storage space," the proposal said.
For development of allied infrastructure like vehicle parking and service area, commercial space, restaurants, driver resting areas and fuel stations, 1,600 acres will be required.
"A total cost of Rs 11,800 crores will be required for development of allied infrastructure and establishing connectivity to nearest National Highway and rail line," the proposal said.

Gadkari had recently said that higher logistics cost in India is one of the biggest impediments in export growth and country's economic development.