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India is planning to bid out 6-7 multi-modal logistics parks or MMLPs in the next financial year (2023-24), with each entailing private investments upwards of INR 700-1000 crore, senior road, transport, and highways ministry officials said.
Eyeing a significant upgrade of its logistics infrastructure in the coming year, another 14-15 critical infrastructure gap connectivity projects for road-based port connectivity are slated for development.
As per senior government officials, “Roughly 200 km of critical infrastructure gap projects for port connectivity via road are going to be executed in the fiscal 2023-24. These projects are being implemented under the larger vision of lowering India’s logistic costs.
India under its National Logistics Policy launched in September 2022, aims to reduce the logistics from 13-14% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to a single-digit.
To make this dream come true, the nation is continuously working towards improving its road and rail connectivity as well as setting up of multi-modal hubs to enable seamless movement of goods and commuters across modes of transport.
In FY23, India aimed to bid out four MMLPs, of these, parks in Chennai and Indore have been awarded till now and the third in Bengaluru is expected by the end March 2023. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) bagged the Chennai MMLP at an investment of ₹783 crore while GR Infraprojects will develop the Indore MMLP at ₹758 crore.
The parks currently being bid out are ranking high in the Logistics Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP) index due to their access to commercial hubs.
Around 100 critical infra gap projects have been prioritized for development under the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan in FY 2023-24. Allocated an amount of INR75,000 crore, these road projects are part of an already identified port connectivity pipeline with 298 projects of roughly ₹2 lakh crore.
There are 161 road and 132 rail connectivity projects out of which 60 road and 42 railway projects have been identified as critical infrastructure gap projects. These critical infra gap projects are identified after three sittings of the empowered group of secretaries headed by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba in last November.
