'Aviation to become part of multi-modal logistics hubs'

 Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the aviation sector will now be part of a project to develop multi-modal logistic hubs in different parts of the country to promote logistics solution.

Currently, only highways, ports, inland waterways and railways are part of the planned multi-modal logistics hubs in India.

By including aviation in the project, the government expects that logistics sector to grow to $360 billion by 2032 from the present $115 billion.

“The government will integrate all kinds of logistics hubs. The government announced its plan to develop 400 regional airports across the country. These airports will have pre-cooling cold storages among other logistics solutions,” the minister said.

Development of integrated logistics solutions will be part of the Prime Minister’s Flagship ‘Make in India’ programme, he said at a curtain-raiser event on India’s first Integrated Transport and Logistic Summit on May 3-5, 2017 here. The minister said the summit, which is expected to attract investments of Rs 50,000 crore, will discuss the issues related to development of multi-modal logistics parks, multi-modal transport facilities, reducing the logistics cost.

India is a growing economy and the high cost of logistics — currently at 14% of GDP — is bearing a negative effect, he said, adding, an effective multi-modal logistics and transport sector will make India’s economy more competitive.