GUWAHATI: The country’s first Multi Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) at Jogighopa in Assam is in an advanced stage of construction and is set to be operational by next year if everything goes according to plan.
The Government of India had planned to set up 35 such MMLPs across the country, and work on the one at Jogighopa in lower Assam was the first to be sanctioned. The project is wholly funded by the Government of India and is being executed by National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL).
MMLPs shall serve as regional cargo aggregation and distribution hubs for various industrial and agricultural nodes, consumer hubs, and EXIM gateways such as seaports with multi-modal connectivity.
In certain cases, the MMLPs are also being developed in tandem with the Inland Waterway Terminals under the Sagarmala Pariyojana to further reduce the cost of inland cargo movement on a much larger scale as compared to conventional road-based movement.
This MMLP will serve as the distribution centre for all North-Eastern States and facilitate cross-border trade with Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) published its annual report for 2023–24, where the MMLP at Jogighopa was specifically mentioned.
The report said that the execution of enabling development work, including road, rail, and water connectivity, area development such as site levelling, boundary work, internal roads, administrative buildings, sewage treatment plant, waste treatment plant, etc., is in an advanced stage.
The procurement of developers on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis for the construction of logistics facilities such as business centre, container yard, warehouses, cold storage, etc. and the subsequent operations thereof is in process.
The estimated cost of the first phase of the project is Rs 693.97 crore. The foundation stone of the project was laid in October 2020 by Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari.
MoRTH finalized the Model Concessionaire Agreement (MCA) for the MMLPs to be developed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana in October 2021 through an elaborate process of Inter-Ministerial consultations.
The document serves as the Developer Agreements/Concession Agreements for the individual MMLP projects under the Pariyojana. In addition to the MCA, the Ministry, in November 2021, also finalized and approved the Model RFP document for the selection of the concessionaire for the development of MMLPs.
A network of 35 multimodal logistics parks is planned to be developed as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana, with a total investment of about Rs 46,000 crore, which, once operational, will be able to handle around 700 million metric tonnes of cargo. Of this, MMLPs at 15 prioritized locations will be developed with a total investment of about Rs 22,000 crore.
Of the 35 MMLP projects identified for development under Bharatmala Pariyojana, 15 sites have been prioritized for award by FY 2024–25. So far, six MMLPs have been awarded for Jogighopa, Chennai, Indore, Bengaluru, Nagpur, and Jalna. 7 MMLPs are planned for sanctioning during 2024–25 (Anantapur, Pune, Patna, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jammu, and Nashik), out of which bids have been invited for MMLPs at Anantapur, Pune, and Nashik.
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