The projects being taken up for increasing port to hinterland rail capacity at ports along the south west coast such as at Mangaluru may be fast-tracked, now that a separate Directorate for the PM Gati Shakti Scheme has been formed at the Railway Board, Bengaluru branch, FKCCI suggested, to ease the congestion at Mangaluru port.
“Since the Directorate is responsible for planning and prioritizing the projects related to the PM Gati Shakti scheme, we request it to ensure that the projects being taken up are commissioned early as it will fulfil a long-felt need of integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another and also facilitate last-mile connectivity, thus reducing the travel time as well as the transport cost of the goods” said CA I.S. president, FKCCI. “The exporters and industry expectations are that he projects will pave the way for the inclusion of more freight terminals and inland container depots (ICD) as they can keep the port fluid, reduce dwell time of cargo and thus ease congestion.”
FKCCI also hoped that more such PM Gati Shakti directorates are formed at the division level, as it will speed up the project implementation and realize the scheme’s end goal of providing multi-modal connectivity, and seamless movement of people, goods and services.
