Recently in Mumbai the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari during the national conference said on Investment Opportunities in Highways Transport and Logistics.

Recently the Modi Government and Maharashtra government signed a pact to set up five more multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) in the state during a conference in the presence of Nitin Gadkari the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister. According to the report these multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) will be set up in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Dighi Port Industrial Estate. As per as the agreement, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will provide the land for MMLPs, and National Highways Logistics Management (NHLML) will provide external road connectivity to the sites, and RVNL will give external rail connectivity. 

The union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari was in Mumbai to attend a conference on investment opportunities in highway, transport and logistics. During the conference, Gadkari said, “the government proposes to set up as many as 35 MMLPs at strategic locations at a total cost of ₹50,000 crore and once they are functional, they will enable seamless freight movement across multiple modes and help reduce our imports and increase exports”. 

He also said that, “one of the MMLPs will soon be functional in his home city of Nagpur and the other two in Chennai and Assam”. He also said , “the model concession agreement for MMLPs has been finalised and they will be developed as part of the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model. MMLPs have been conceptualised to enable seamless intermodal freight movement and offer multiple functionalities such as freight aggregation and distribution. Storage, warehousing solutions, value-added services like Custom clearances and IT services will also be provided. The parks will enable a shift from a point-to-point to a hub-and-spoke model in the logistics sector, eventually bringing down logistics costs by at least half and enabling more efficient movement of new-generation vehicles.

Nitin

The parks will enable a shift from a point-to-point to a hub-and-spoke model in the logistics sector, eventually bringing down logistics costs by at least half and enabling more efficient movement of new-generation vehicles.

With this the NHAI chairperson Alka Upadhyay said, “the national road developer has set up a fully-owned special purpose vehicle the National Highways and Logistics Management (NHLML) to improve the logistics efficiency and manage allied highway assets of NHAI”. Such logistics parks are already under-construction in Assam, Nagpur and Chennai, they will be functional shortly, and bids for MMLPs in Bangalore and Indore will be invited in the next 2-3 months. MoUs have already been signed with JNPT, Chennai Port Trust, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana for developing MMLPs. 

While the vehicle scrapping policy will reduce pollution, improve tax revenue, grow the automobile sector, boost exports and create jobs, Gadkari said that, “the automated vehicle testing to be initiated first for heavy commercial vehicles from April 2023, and from June 2024 for other classes of vehicles in phases”. The minister said, “there will be 75 automated vehicle testing stations in the first phase over the next 4-5 years, which will be scaled up to 450-500 stations”.

Let us tell you that Another MoU was signed between Maharashtra and Tata Motors to set up a vehicle scrapping facility in the state. An agreement was also inked between Maharashtra and CERO, which is the country’s first organised vehicle recycler, to set up additional vehicle scrapping facilities in the state. On this Gadkari said, “vehicle scrapping facilities and automated testing stations together present an investment opportunity of ₹230-280 crore for Maharashtra alone”. 

Logistics Park

On this Gadkari said, “vehicle scrapping facilities and automated testing stations together present an investment opportunity of ₹230-280 crore for Maharashtra alone”.Â