Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shri Sarbanand Sonowal has announced forming of a Special Purpose vehicle (SPV) for development of a Multimodal Logistics Park (MMLP) at VOC Port in Chennai. The MMLP to be developed through Public Private Partnership with the SPV providing land and connectivity and the actual MMLP infrastructure to be developed by a private developer. He said, all the three stake holders viz, Chennai Port Authority, TIDCO and NHAI will be equity partners in the proposed SVP. The Minister informed that equity contribution/investment of the Chennai Port is the cost of the land amounting to Rs 167 crore, NHAI/NHIDCL contribution is Rs l30 crore and that of State govt. through TIDCO is Rs 50 crore.
Speaking at the virtual MoU signing in New Delhi today, Shri Sonowal said, V.O. Chidambaranar Port, the economic engine of South Tamilnadu, has proposed for setting up of Multimodal Logistics Park due to its advantages such as excellent Rail-road connectivity, proximity to Main Sea Route, all weather operational conditions, and geographic position to link Eastern coast with the Western coast. The Multimodal Logistics Park would facilitate infrastructure for enabling seamless multimodal freight transfer, and specialized storage solutions, such as cold storage, warehouses equipped with mechanized material handling and intermodal transfer terminals for containers, bulk and break-bulk cargo. Further, the MMLP would be offering value-added services such as Customs clearance, bonded storage yards, quarantine zones, testing facilities, warehousing management services, post-manufacturing activities such as kitting and final assembly, grading, sorting, labelling, packaging etc.
The Chennai Port authority has acquired a land parcel of 121.74 acres on a 99-year lease basis from SIPCOT for the purpose of developing a Dry Port. This land located in Mappedu Village near Sriperumbudur is strategically located near the major automobile industrial clusters. Also, on its own is developing as a warehousing hub of Chennai. The Government of India has taken a novel initiative to develop 35 Multi-Modal Logistic Parks (MMLP) under Bhartmala Pariyojana across the country to enhance the efficiency of Indian logistics and reduce the logistics costs. In this network of MMLPs, Chennai is among the first to be chosen for implementation. NHAI/ NHIDCL under Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have been assigned the task of developing MMLPs.
It is proposed to develop MMLP in the land parcel of 121.74 now in the possession of Chennai Port. In addition to Chennai Port’s land, the Government of Tamil Nadu through TIDCO will be acquiring another 36.23 acres of land and the investment for this will be made available by the state government. The required road connectivity infrastructure will be done by NHAI, and later a railway line is proposed from the nearest rail head near Kadambattur for a length of about 12 kms.
