‘Multi-Modal Park To Be Growth Engine For Assam’: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the first multi-modal logistic park of the country in Assam stating it would serve as the growth engine for economic development in the state, an official release said.

"The multi-modal park will serve as a growth engine for Assam"s economic development. It would provide direct and indirect employment to about 20 lakh people," Gadkari said laying the virtual foundation stone of the project under Bharatmala Pariyojna.

"The work on the first phase of the Rs 694 crore project at Jogighopa on 317-acre land will begin next month by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) and will be completed by 2023," the Road Transport, Highways, and MSME Minister said.

Works worth Rs 280 crore for the MMLP project along Brahmaputra have already been awarded, including Rs 171 crore for road construction, Rs 87 crore for erecting the structure, and Rs 23 crore for rail lines, the release said.

The park will be connected to air, road, rail and waterways.

The Minister said that the distance of 154 km between Jogighopa and Guwahati will be covered by making a 4-lane road on this stretch, a 3-km rail line will connect Jogighopa station to the MMLP, another 3-km rail link will connect it to the inland water terminal, and the road to newly developed Rupsi airport will be upgraded to 4-lanes for easier connectivity.

He said, the MMLP will have all the facilities like, warehouse, railway siding, cold storage, custom clearance house, yard facility, workshops, petrol pumps, truck parking, administrative building, boarding lodging, eating joints, water treatment plant, etc.

Gadkari said his Ministry has envisaged developing 35 Multi-modal Logistic Parks (MMLPs) in the country and work on preparing DPR (detailed project report) and feasibility report is underway.

Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) will be formed for all these MMLPs, and professionally qualified CEOs will be appointed for each separately.

Other 22 MMLPs are proposed in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Kandla, Vadodara, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jullundur, Bhatinda, Hissar, Ambala, Kota, Jaipur, Jagatsinghpur, Sundarnagar. Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Nashik, Panaji, Bhopal, Raipur, and Jammu, the official release added.