Western Freight Corridor To Cut Logistics Cost To 7%; Help India Compete With China: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor will bring down India's logistics cost to around 7%, enabling the country to compete with China and become a stronger part of the global supply chain.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Vadodara visit on Tuesday, inaugurated three key sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai with Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, marking the completion of the project.

"India's logistics cost was around 14%, while it was 7% in China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had brought it down from 14 to 10%. But with this Dedicated Freight Corridor, we will bring it down to 7%. We will be able to compete with China and become a part of the global supply chain," Fadnavis told reporters at Uran in Navi Mumbai.

The 1,600-km corridor, which passes through several states and connects Uttar Pradesh with Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), will bring about a revolution in the country's logistics sector, Fadnavis said.

Cargo will be transported by rail on double-stack container trains, with one container placed above another, he said, adding that one such train can carry cargo equivalent to that transported by 250 trucks.

The electric trains will help save petrol and diesel and reduce pollution, the CM noted.

While cargo movement by road takes around three days, the freight corridor will enable the same movement to be completed in about 12 hours, he added.

The corridor was particularly important for Maharashtra as its final destination was JNPT, Fadnavis said.

JNPT is expected to become the country's first port to handle more than one million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) of container cargo within the next two years, he said.

The project will benefit industry and trade, make export-oriented and import-dependent industries more globally competitive and generate employment on a large scale in Maharashtra, Fadnavis said.

He thanked Prime Minister Modi, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Government of India, as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japanese government for their assistance in the project.