India's Sindi dry port gears up for Bangladesh export after election results
The Sindi Multimodal Logistics Park in Nagpur, a project spearheaded by Indian Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, is set to boost exports to Bangladesh after the upcoming election results in June.
Popularly known as the Sindi dry port, the facility located at Sindi tehsil in Wardha district of Nagpur division in Maharashtra, was inaugurated for a trial run on 14 March, just before the poll code of conduct came into effect, reports The Times of India.
After the commercial formalities are completed, around 10 container trains are expected to operate monthly by mid-June, sources told TOI.
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The initial outward bound consignments include cotton, auto parts, tractors and yarn to Bangladesh, which will send goods to Sindi Park as well, according to a source familiar with the venture.
From Nagpur, these trains will transport consignments to Haldia and finally reach Bangladesh through the river route.
This is expected to significantly reduce transit time to just over a week compared to the 20-25 days typically required by road or sea.
Current transport to Bangladesh either entails congested road routes or circuitous sea voyages necessitating detours via Colombo or Singapore, which escalates both freight costs and delivery duration, the sources noted.
The facility is projected to elevate regional logistics by 20%.
Presently, container depots in Nagpur are operated by Concor — a subsidiary of Indian Railways, DLI and Adani Group.
The addition of the Sindi MMLP will bring the total to four.
"The operators will also have to work on shifting the road-bound cargo to MMLLP as congestions have come down considerably these days," said Shivkumar Rao, a logistics businessman and former president of Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) council.
The Sindi dry port work began in Gadkari's first term when he also had the shipping ministry. It was later developed by the National Highway Logistics Management Limited (NHLM), an agency under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways held by Gadkari.
NHLM has partnered with Delta Bulk Shipping Corporation as a private partner in the venture.
