New Delhi,  The National Highways Logistics Management Ltd (NHLML), the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) have come together for swift development of modern Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLP) under Bharatmala Pariyojna across the country.

The move aims to centralise freight consolidation and reduce logistics cost from 14 per cent to less than 10 per cent of GDP.

In his remarks on the occasion of signing of the agreement, Road, Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari said he was elated to witness the signing of MoU as it will provide seamless modal shift, MMLPs will ensure that cargo is swapped/shifted from and to waterways, dedicated freight corridors, and road transport. He said this is building the nation through Gati Shakti.

Union Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that "today is a historic occasion when we propose to put the letter and spirit of Bharatmala Pariyojana into effect for a swift, efficient, economical and environment friendly logistics movement across the country".

"This agreement is an earnest attempt towards realisation of this objective. MMLPs are designed to untie the cobweb of logistics movement and enliven the logistics sector to put the economy into the fast lane of growth," he added.

MMLP will be a freight handling facility with rail and road accessibility, comprising of container terminals, cargo terminals (bulk, break-bulk), warehouses, cold storage, facilities for mechanised material handling and value-added services such as customs clearance with bonded storage yards, quarantine zones, testing facilities and warehousing management services etc, along with other associated facilities.

Developed under a 'Hub & Spoke' model, the MMLP will integrate multiple modes of freight transport through highways, railways, and inland waterways. The agreement underlines the cooperation & collaboration model between the three bodies in order to achieve efficiency in logistics movement within the country.

The MMLP project is poised to develop state-of-the-art large scale warehousing facility for different types of commodities, to become one stop solution for all services related to cargo movement like warehousing, custom clearance, parking, maintenance of trucks etc.

The MMLPs will focus on a technology driven implementation for a state-of-the-art freight management system. Many value added services like packaging, repackaging and labelling will be available in these projects.