Team Herald
MARGAO: Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone for multi-modal logistics Park at Balli in the presence of Union Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, on Sunday.
Earlier, Konkan Railway’s Managing Director Sanjay Gupta and Container Corporation of India representative Anil Gupta signed an MOU to setup the multi-modal logistics park.
This will be the first of its kind in Goa for which Container Corporation of India will be initially invest Rs 30 crore to set up the park. Konkan Railway will make available its vacant land to Container Corporation at Balli for a nominal licence fee and revenue sharing to set up this facility.
Prabhu also inaugurated coach intermediate overhauling depot at Margao and Sawantwadi terminal (PHASE-I) by remote; commissioned hand held device for issuing platform tickets and ticket checking receipts as well as upgraded the mango pack house at Jamsande and Devgad through remote control during a function held at Margao, on Sunday.
On multi modal logistics park, Prabhu said it would boost industrial growth in Goa as it would bring down transport costs for goods. He said that it would be able to store 5000 containers, be a one stop facility for clearances like customs duty and would help the industries export their goods across the country with its connectivity to the stations.
The facility will be initially spread over 94,000 square meters with a scope for expansion as the traffic may grow in future. This logistics park will be able to handle both domestic and exim container traffic. In addition to container traffic, commodities transported by both open and covered wagons can also be handled from here.
A 5000 square meters of custom bonded warehousing space is being created in the first phase and a host of value added services like stuffing, repackaging etc will be available to its users.
Both trade and industry in Goa will greatly benefit from the economic transport solutions and the state of the art facilities that Container Corporation will be providing in partnership with Konkan Railway at this facility. In the first year of operations itself, the facility is likely to handle 15 rakes per month.
