MoRTH to formulate integrated, multimodal logistics and transport policy

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is working towards formulating an integrated, multimodal logistics and transport policy which aims at reducing logistics costs in the country by nearly half, making Indian products more competitive. The strategy will be to adopt a “hub-and-spoke” model for the logistics sector in place of the present “point-to-point” model. The integrated policy will include the construction of 50 economic corridors and upgradation of key feeder and inter-corridor routes to improve the overall efficiency of freight movement. The plan further includes the development of 35 multimodal logistics parks to serve as centres for freight aggregation and distribution, multimodal transportation, storage and warehousing, and value-added services. An overall network of about 56,000 km has been identified, including existing national corridors (Golden Quadrilateral and North-South-East-West Corridor), proposed economic corridors, inter-corridor routes and feeder routes. In addition to this, 191 towns/cities have been identified on these routes where steps will to be taken to reduce congestion.