The Center has extended the concession period of Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) from 30 to 45 years, said a top official at the agency implementing the project. The government has plans to set up 35 MMLPs across India as a part of the Bharatmala Project, under the Gati Shakti NMP, for seamless connectivity and freight movement, and a reduction in logistics costs. The increase in the concession period is expected to attract better investment in terms of amount as well as time (long term).
According to Prakash Gaur, the move to increase concession period will help investors recoup their investment and will also generate surplus.
The MMLPs are set to be developed in phases with each phase (about three) of a five-year period. This would have given investors only around 15 years to recover their investment and generate a surplus. With each MMLP expected to require over ₹1,000 crore of investment, a longer 45-year concession period would give the necessary fillip to the scheme,”
Prakash Gaur, Chief Executive, National Highways Logistics Management Ltd.
The Union road ministry has mandated NHLML to execute MMLPs and implement connectivity, including links to ports. NHLML is a special purpose vehicle of the National Highways Authority of India.
The said 35 MMLPs will be spread throughout India, each of them sprawling around at least 100 acres. They will be designed, built, financed, operated and transferred under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode with an investment of around INR 50,000 crore. They will allow seamless freight aggregation, warehousing and distribution, and will provide value-added services such as customs clearances and IT services. The cities that have been earmarked for the planned MMLPs include Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Surat, Delhi-NCR, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kota, Visakhapatnam, Jammu, Cochin, Solan, Hisar and Patna among others.
