High logistical cost prevailing in India is the biggest hindrance for Indian businesses on the global level and the Ministry of Shipping will aim to reduce the cost under the Sagarmala Project, said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, on the second day of the Maritime India Summit 2016.
“The logistic cost in India, at present, is 18% while its 8% in China. We aim to reduce it to 10% under Sagarmala project," Gadkari said, adding multi-pronged programme to improve hinterland connectivity can resolve the acute logistical problems faced by the transport sector.
There are proposals for investment to the tune of ?4 lakh crore to improve rail and road connectivity for container movement. The surface transport ministry has partnered with railways to improve freight transportation.
Gadkari said the government intends to move all the godowns from the cities to outskirts, along the 300 ring roads in all the cities.
"Traffic congestion is the major issue when it comes to transport of goods from godowns to the cities to railway yards or docks. We want to move these godowns close to ring roads for ease of transportation," he said.
He informed that the proposed SEZ near JNPT will attract investment of ?4000 Crore and create around 1.5 lakh jobs. Apart from this, massive investments to the tune of ?8 lakh crore will be made in various industrial clusters in the country.
"With the road construction speed of 20 km per day, which is for the first time in the history, I am confident to create a world class road network to facilitate seamless goods transport," Gadkari said, adding, "with the launch of Sagarmala project, we have opened our cards. Global investors can now choose and pick from the sector they want to invest in."
Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha assured all possible help from his ministry to improve hinterland connectivity. "We have created Special Purpose Vehicles to carryout various developmental works and to establish coordination with surface transport and shipping ministries for speedy implementation of the projects," Sinha said.
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