More and more non-major ports in the country will be connected by highways as the ministry of road transport and highways starts work under the port connectivity plan.
It is learnt that port-road connectivity is crucial and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working in close coordination with the Ministry of Shipping towards connecting non-major ports with national and state highways for a seamless logistics movement.
This initiative is part of the broader port connectivity plan, consultations for which have already commenced.
The Ministry of Shipping has circulated the draft port connectivity plan amongst the various stakeholders including road and railways ministry.
Non-major ports are are not owned by the central government and their connectivity with roads and railways has suffered in the past.
The delay in execution of port connectivity projects is the reason that the central government has come out with this plan.
Besides providing road and rail connectivity to upcoming ports, the government is accessing capacity and congestion at the existing non major ports.
According to a senior official, “We want to ensure a seamless multi-modal logistics movement in the country and therefore are working on the upcoming and existing projects. We are working closely with the shipping ministry for the same.”
These initiatives form the crux of PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, a Rs 100 lakh crore plan for multi-modal connectivity to develop infrastructure to reduce logistic costs and boost the economy.
The plan which includes implementation, monitoring and support mechanism, for providing multi-modal connectivity was approved by the Union Cabinet in October 2021.
It targets to cut logistic costs, increase cargo handling capacity and reduce the turnaround time.
The government said that the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan is intended to break departmental silos and bring in more holistic and integrated planning and execution of projects to address the issues of multi-modal connectivity and last-mile connectivity.
