The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology of the Republic of Austria on technology cooperation in the road infrastructure sector on Wednesday.

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown coupled with other restrictive measures to contain the disease has adversely impacted the prospects of the Indian logistics sector, especially the road freight transportation movement, rating agency ICRA has said in a note.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology of the Republic of Austria on technology cooperation in the road infrastructure sector.

Investment information and credit rating agency, ICRA has revised the outlook on the logistics sector from ‘Stable’ to ‘Negative’ given the prevailing circumstances and its near impact on the industry metrics.

Considerable investments are planned through private sector participation in addition to investments through internal resources of VPT for port modernisation in the major thrust areas of deepening of channels and berths, development of new berths, modernisation and mechanisation of existing berths and improvements in connectivity and other logistics such as multi-model logistic parks, said MT Krishna Babu, Chairman, Port of Visakhapatnam.

The two logistics players have come together to contribute to the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Ease of doing business’ by shifting emphasis from road to rail, thereby easing congestion and pressure on road transportation.

Gateway Distriparks Limited has announced that the fifth rail-linked container terminal of its subsidiary, Gateway Rail Freight Limited at Viramgam near Ahmedabad has been notified by Western Railway for handling container traffic. The terminal will be a double stack switching hub for the company on the North-West trade route.

Odisha has played a pivotal role in the emergence and growth of the steel industry in the country. Blessed with abundant iron ore, the state made rapid strides in steel. Besides iron ore (32.9 per cent of the country´s reserves), Odisha has abundant reserves of bauxite (59.95 per cent), chromite (98.4 per cent), coal (24.8 per cent) and manganese (67.6 per cent), which provide immense opportunities.

The importance of quality infrastructure and the development of an economy have an umbilical cord binding them and can never be seen in isolation. Broadly, infrastructure is the network of power, telecom, ports, airports, roads, civil aviation, railways, and transportation in a country and is the lifeline of the economy of a country.