It's cheaper to take material from Mumbai to London: Nitin Gadkari

He said by developing ports, they are creating employment potential and at the same time involved in industrial development

Claiming that the Centre is working on reducing logistics costs, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today remarked that it is cheaper to transport material from Mumbai to London, but costly to take it to Delhi.

"We are the fastest-growing economy in this world. The most important thing for our economic development are our ports. By developing ports, we are creating employment potential and at the same time involved in industrial development," Gadkari told a gathering during the signing of an agreement between Mormugao Port Trust and Goa Sea Port Private for development of two berths.

"For industrial development, we are trying to reduce the logistics cost. It is most important thing in industrial development... In China, the logistics cost is only 8-12 per cent. In Europe, it is 12 per cent and in India, it is 18 per cent."

Gadkari assessment is that it is one of the reasons "why we are not competitive" in the world market. "For taking any material from Mumbai to London or Mumbai to Dubai is easy and cheaper compared to taking it from Mumbai to Delhi. In this situation, we have decided to give the highest priority to infrastructure," the road transport, highways and shipping minister said.

He put a premium on developing industrial clusters "to achieve dreams of the Prime Minster for Make in India".

"Sagarmala is a dream project for the country. In Sagarmala, we are expecting an investment of Rs 12 lakh crore, of which Rs 4 lakh crore is for infrastructure, Rs 2 lakh crore for port road connectivity, Rs 1 lakh crore for port rail connectivity, Rs 1 lakh crore for modernisation and mechanisation of ports," he added, giving a break-up.

A sum of Rs 8 lakh crore has been marked as investment for 27 industrial clusters.

"We have already formed a company for Sagarmala and the consultant has already given a report. We are also developing six major ports and that is a very important project. At the same time, we are taking up modernisation and mechanisation of the existing ports," the minister added.