• Logistics cost has to be brought down: Gadkari

    The logistics cost in India is high at 17-18 per cent and it has to be brought down drastically, if the country were to compete in the international market, according to Union Minister for Surface Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari.

    The minister was speaking at the Visakhapatnam port here on Thursday after inaugurating several projects and laying the foundation stones for some.

    He first inaugurated the Visakhaptnam Container Terminal Private Limited’s container freight station built at a cost of ?104 crore and then the port’s 10-MW solar power project. He inaugurated the EQ-10 and WQ-6 berths in the port and visited the WQ-7 and other berths under construction at a cost of ?243 crore. He also laid the foundation stone for EQ-2 and EQ-5 berths taken up at an estimated cost of ?181 crore.

    Gadkari said these projects would vastly improve the functioning of the Visakhapatnam port which has a great future ahead of it on the east coast, as the government has adopted the Look East policy.

    Sagarmala project

    He said the government, realising the need to bring down the logistics cost, had taken up the Sagarmala project to improve the connectivity of the ports with the hinterland and also to link the ports. These measures will have the desired effect and Visakhapatnam port would also stand to gain a great deal, and this port will play a great role in the development of Andhra Pradesh and the country, he said.

    He said his ministry had also taken up the programme to double the length of the National Highways to improve connectivity and facilitate free flow of cargoes to the ports. Jake Dotchin Authentic Jersey

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