Harnessing multimodal logistics

India's first Multi Modal Logistics Park project has been rolled out at Jogighopa in Assam's Goalpara district. For the State, however, remaining at the top of the list, after all the 35 multi-modal projects proposed to be set up by the Central government come up, will be the real challenge. The logistics hub includes a set of connectivity projects which include widening of the National Highway 17 between Guwahati and Goalpara to a four-lane highway, the doubling of the New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati railway line, upgrading the Jogighopa river port of the Brahmaputra as an all- weather river port and facilitating a seamless interchange between the three modes of transport.

It will be a single platform for a wide range of facilities like warehouse, railway siding, cold storage, custom clearance house, yard facility, workshops, petrol pumps, truck parking, administrative building, eating joints, accommodation, and water treatment plant.The site is located about 150 km off Guwahati and developed on 317 acres of land by the river Brahmaputra. Laying the foundation stone of the logistics park, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that the first phase of construction is scheduled to be completed by 2023. Works worth Rs 280 crore 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. A 3-km rail line will connect Jogighopa station to the multimodal park, 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 four-lane road for easier connectivity. With the Central government's commitment of nearly Rs 693.97 crore, there will be no dearth of funds for these infrastructure projects. The State currently has only one container-handling facility at Amingaon in Guwahati which caters to the industrial units of Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya.

The multimodal logistics park, therefore, will open up huge opportunities of exporting goods from Assam and neighbouring States to Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal by reducing the logistics cost of handling containers in the region. This requires the Assam government to decide what its trade basket will offer to buyers in these countries. Even though India's engagement with these neighbours have increased manifold, Assam has not been able to reap the benefits of these enhanced bilateral and multilateral engagement despite sharing borders with Bangladesh and Bhutan. India's Export Preparedness Index showed that Assam is one of the least prepared States to increase its export business. The border trading point in West Bengal accounts for the 90 per cent of India's trade with Bhutan. According to the data of Landport Authority of India, the Integrated Check Post at Petrapole in West Bengal accounts for about 70 per cent of India-Bangladesh trade. Assam's trade basket needs to be diversified to explore niche markets in the neighbouring countries to exploit the full potential of the logistics infrastructure coming up at Jogighopa. Assam and other States in the region have huge untapped potential for food-processing industries. The Central government has allocated Rs 640 crore for assisting 13,000 micro food enterprises in the State. Care must be taken to link some of these enterprises to get connected to the export market keeping in mind the targeted end users of the logistics hub. The food processing units must be integrated with packaging units for value addition.

Focussing on implementing the Assam Cane and Bamboo Police-2019 will enable the State to leverage the availability of the 42 naturally growing bamboo species to set up bamboo-based industrial units. Locations of the industries must be selected keeping in mind the connectivity from industrial farm gates to the multimodal logistics hubs. The project timeline shows that Assam will get ample time to draw up actionable agenda aimed at exploiting the infrastructure coming up at Jogighopa by the time the logistics park is fully equipped with all the infrastructure.The State must rise to the occasion to showcase the multimodal logistics park to investors outside and attract them to set up manufacturing units. Focus should also be laid on grooming local exporters for whom it will be easier to identify the untapped areas for expanding the State's export footprint. The State government should ensure the convergence of various departments specifically for drawing up a meticulous export strategy with active participation of all government and non-government stakeholders. Banking and other financial institutions should be roped in to facilitate easy financing support for first generation exporters in the State. It has been projected that the logistics park will generate 20 lakh direct and indirect employment avenues which is an achievable target. However, it will remain a pipe dream if the Assam government fails to utilise the time to increase its export potential in all respects. The State will miss the bus if it waits for the multimodal logistics park at Jogighopa to come up first and then plan.

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