November 27, 2020: The government’s renewed focus on infrastructure sector, as it looks to spur economic growth following the coronavirus setback, is expected to be given a massive push in the way of the multimodal connectivity initiative.
The master plan, which the government is expected to come out with soon, is expected to rein in logistics cost and boost local manufacturers.
Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, recently said at a CII event that the masterplan will soon be placed before the Cabinet.
He also said that the shipping, railways and civil aviation ministries will be given a timeline to ensure multimodal connectivity to various manufacturing centres by 2024.
Arindam Guha, partner and government and public services leader at Deloitte India, feels the initiative can be a gamechanger for the infrastructure sector.
“We are too dependent on particular modes of transport like rail and road. The commissioning of the dedicate freight corridor will boost transportation opportunities for Railways. In terms of adapting for different modes of transport in different stretches of the entire supply chain is another area of concern. In other countries, the logistics parks are constructed in such a manner that last-mile connectivity is not a problem. This is why multi-modal connectivity project is very important and I expect that it will reduce time and cost quite a bit if it is executed in the correct manner,” he told Moneycontrol.
He added that the initiative will also lead to generation of jobs in the logistics sector and will help in attracting big foreign companies.
“In a project of this magnitude, there will be a massive boost to jobs generation for the logistics sector. Also, if large companies are to look at India, they will look at competitiveness in cost and logistics is a key element. In India, we still are at a relative disadvantage when it comes to logistics,” he said.
In his Independence Day speech, PM Narendra Modi emphasised on giving a new direction to infrastructure development and had rued that there is no coordination between the various modes of transportation.
Source: moneycontrol
