The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) recently held a stakeholders’ meeting, headed by Chairman Sanjay Sethi to discuss and strategise about the planned development of the Jalna Dry Port.
JNPT has undertaken the development of a proposed dry port cum industrial park also known as a multimodal logistics park at Jalna near Aurangabad in Maharashtra to capture a wider hinterland by providing a direct-to-port railway linkage to exporters or importers; and provide seamless logistics facilities to industry in the Marathwada region.
Sethi visited the proposed Jalna Dry port site to examine the Project status and held detailed discussion with potential stakeholders representing Ernst & Young LLP; Chamber of Marathwada Industries & Agricultural (CMIA); Kayhaon Paper Mills Ltd.; Gauri Agrotech Products Pvt. Ltd.; Shakti Engineering Company; Savera Group (Engineering Division); Thakurji Solvex Pvt. Ltd.; Tanish Global Foreign Trades & Facilitations; and S.B. Exporters, Salasar Shipping, MRP & Associates.
During the discussion, participants were appraised on initiatives taken by JNPT for improving the Ease of Doing Business, handling capacity and operational efficiency of the Port. The participants were also briefed about the development of a Centralised Parking Plaza, first of a kind 277 hectares multi-product SEZ, installation of three Mobile Scanners to increasing the Security Profile and development of dry ports at strategic location in Maharashtra namely Jalna, Wardha, Nashik and Sangli.
The meeting also discussed the installation of scanners for scanning of containers at JNPT and Dry Port; connectivity between proposed Jalna Dry Port and proposed Samruddhi Mahamarg; facility for obtaining Plant and Animal Quarantine certification at JNPT/Jalna Dry Port. The discussion further highlighted the need for increasing the frequency of rail service from Jalna Dry Port to JNPT; the utilisation and availability of Empty Container at other operational ICDs and the status on Doubling the Railway track from Manmad to Aurangabad.
JNPT handles more than 34 percent of total Indian Container trade, where Maharashtra contributes around two million TEUs of traffic to the port annually which is approximately 50 percent of JNPT’s container traffic. Hence, it has been planned to develop dry ports in the state of Maharashtra itself based on a hub-and-spoke model for cargo clearance and aggregation, helping JNPT extend hinterland connectivity.
The dry ports will be operated through an Inland Container Depot operator cum Developer who will enable cargo movement while other Industrial units shall be allotted plots in the dry ports to generate captive cargo. According to JNPT, the dry ports will contribute to the port’s overall growth objective.