As part of the effort to reduce logistics cost, the Centre has invited bids to build the Multimodal Logistics Park (MMLP) at Nagpur in Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 352.97 crore.
The project will be developed through Public-Private Partnership on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.
The selected concessionaire will operate and maintain the logistics park for a period of 45 years, including two years for construction.
Location
Nagpur, being centrally located in the country and almost equidistant from most of the major economic centers of India and well connected through road and rail, provides location advantages for establishing industries, warehouses and associated facilities to link to ports
Located in Sindi village of Wardha district, the site for MMLP Nagpur is at a distance of 4.1 km from NH-361 and 2.7 km from the Samruddhi Mahamarg.
MMLP Nagpur Site.
The site is abutting NH-353I which connects to NH-361 (Nagpur-Wardha Highway) in the north and the NH-44 (Nagpur-Hyderabad Highway) in the south.
The development of MMLP is anticipated in phases with Phase-1 area of 76.34 acres, Phase-2 area of 36.31 acres and Phase-3 area of 37.76 acres and total area of the site for development of MMLP around 150.39 acres.
The masterplan area.
Reducing Logistics Cost
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, has decided to develop 35 multimodal logistics at some of the highest freight movement regions in the country in order to enhance logistics efficiency across the country.
This is targeted to reduce logistics costs to 8-9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Currently, logistics account for 14 per cent of GDP — making India far less competitive on the global stage.
MMLP is an integrated facility within which all activities relating to logistics and the distribution of goods, both for national and international transit can be carried out across multiple modes of transport.
The MMLPs equipped with inter-modal facilities for freight handling, warehouses, cold storages, custom bonded area will provide one stop solution and reduce transportation costs, inventory handling costs and substantially resolve inefficiencies present in the logistics ecosystem.
The NHLML, which is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is the nodal agency for implementing the MMLP projects in the country.
The foundation stone of the country’s first MMLP at Jogighopa in Assam was laid in October 2020 and is slated to be completed by December 2023.
The tendering process for the 136.80-km Pune Ring Road has attracted participation from 28 infra companies.
Some of the major players from the construction industry including L&T, G R Infraprojects, Afcons Infra, IRB infrastructure and IRCON International have shown interest in the project by applying for the Request for Qualifications (RFQ).
Earlier in April 2023, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had invited RFQ to select a list of qualified contractors who will participate in the actual bidding of the project work.
The Project
The access-controlled Pune Ring Road which lies entirely in Pune district will have a greenfield alignment, with two parts.
The first part will be the 74.08 km stretch from Urse on Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway to Shivare on Pune-Satara NH-4, which will be known as the Eastern Ring Road (PRR-EAST).
The other part will be the 65.45-km-long road from Shivare, back to Urse in Pune District and will be known as the Western Ring Road (PRR-WEST).
Necessity
Pune District is the second largest district in the state of Maharashtra.
The city is at the junction of three major highways, namely, Mumbai-Bangalore, Mumbai-Hyderabad-Vijayawada, and Pune-Nashik.
Whereas , the new national highways — Pune-Pandharpur, Pune-Aurangabad, and Pune-Mangaon also pass through the city.
As a result, heavy outbound traffic passes through the city each day creating traffic congestions.
Such passing traffic, if diverted through road network outside the city limits will ease the traffic congestion within the city. In absence of such peripheral connections, the load of external floating traffic is ever increasing on the intra-city road network.
The MSRDC conceptualized the Ring Road around Pune City to divert the traffic passing through the city, from outside the city towards other cities, without letting them to enter in the Pune City.
Salient Features
While the width of the road will be between 90 to 110 metre with three lanes on either side for 97.80 km, there will be four lanes each on either side on the remaining 39 km stretch of Ring Road.
The road will be designed for a speed of 120 kmph and will have Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) along with noise barriers on the stretch passing through urban areas.
There will be wayside amenities at five locations. It will have 14 interchanges, eight pedestrian underpasses, six smaller vehicular underpasses, 13 light vehicle underpasses, 37 vehicular underpasses, 28 vehicular overpasses, three railway over bridges, 16 major bridges, 38 minor bridges, 230 culverts, 10 tunnels, and 18 flyovers on the Ring Road.
Cost And Construction
The project has an estimated cost of Rs 15,857 crore and will have a completion period of 30 months from the actual start of work, which is likely by this year’s end.
The construction of Ring Road is proposed to be taken up in nine packages.
In addition, the state government has already allocated Rs 11,000 crore for the acquisition of land for the Ring Road project.
The MSRDC has taken up the project as a priority, as it is one of the significant infrastructure works in the region.
Titagarh Rail Systems Limited has been awarded the contract for supply of Metro coaches for the first phase of Surat Metro Rail, the engineering company announced Tuesday in a regulatory filing.
Under the terms of the agreement, Titagarh Wagons will undertake the design, manufacture, supply, testing, commissioning and training of 72 number of Standard Gauge Cars for Surat Metro Rail Phase-I.
Interestingly, the company which was earlier known as Titagarh Wagons Limited, was the lone bidder for the tender floated by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) to supply a total of 72 Metro cars for Surat Metro Phase 1.
The order value is about Rs 857 crore and the first two trains would be delivered 76 weeks after signing the contract and the entire delivery is scheduled to be completed in 132 weeks thereafter.
Single Bidder
The tender for the rolling stock for Surat Metro was floated in November 2021 and the last date for submission of bids was extended at least four times.
Despite four extensions, Titagarh remained the only bidder in the fray and the GMRC ultimately awarded the contract to Kolkata-based private firm.
Rule 166 of the General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017, mandates that procurement from a single source can be resorted only under three circumstances — when the user department knows that “only a particular firm is the manufacturer of the required goods”; in a case of emergency “when the required goods are to be purchased from a particular source and the reason for such decision is to be recorded and approval of the competent authority obtained” and “for standardisation of machinery or spare parts to be compatible to the existing sets of equipment (on advice of a competent technical expert and approved by the competent authority)”.
The GMRC on its behalf defended the selection of the lone bidder, having said, “If the lone bidder has the required competence, then we can award the tender”.
Quoting GMRC officials, an Indian express report said that other tenders for Surat Metro, including those for viaduct, stations and traction, were at an advanced stage. As such if the rolling stock tender had to be discontinued or withdrawn, it will not allow sufficient time to receive the rolling stock in Surat for integration with the signalling and traction system and the trials in time before the proposed commencement of operations by December 2024.
Surat Metro
The Union government approved the first phase of Surat Metro project in March 2019.
The 40.35-km project consists of two corridors covering 38 stations and two depots at Dream City and Bhesan.
The 21.61-km-long first corridor spans from Sarthana to Dream city, renowned as the diamond route and will have six underground and 14 elevated stations. This includes a 6.47km underground stretch from Kapodra to Dream city.
The 18.74 km second corridor, known as the textile corridor will run between Bhesan and Saroli. It will be an elevated corridor with 18 stations.
While the first corridor is expected to be operational before December 2024, the second corridor is slated for completion by March 2025.
Two days after the announcement by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, work on the Ballabhgarh-Palwal Metro connectivity has begun, with the commencement of the techno-feasibility study of the proposed project, on Tuesday (27 June).
Notably, the Chief Minister had announced the metro project from Faridabad’s Ballabgarh to Palwal on 25 June during the Gauravshali Bharat Rally of Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency, at village Gadhpuri in Palwal district.
A team of experts from Haryana Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (HMRTC) and Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) visited the proposed mass rapid transit (MRT) corridor from Ballabhgarh to Palwal.
The techno-feasibility study of this route will be completed in the next few days by RITES Limited.
After the completion of the techno-feasibility study, the project will be sent to the HMRTC for approval. In this regard, the Chief Minister has given directions to call a meeting of the board soon.
Project Details
The 24-km-long Ballabhgarh-Palwal MRT Corridor will be an elevated metro.
Ten stations are proposed on this corridor to provide connectivity to the industrial areas of Sector 58-59, Sikri, Softa, Prithla, Baghola, Alhapur and Palwal.
The estimated cost for this metro route is Rs 180 crore per kilometre, with the entire project estimated to cost about Rs 4,320 crore. The final alignment will be decided after discussions with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and other stakeholders.
Further, the MRT corridor will be integrated with Ballabhgarh Railway Station, Ballabhgarh Bus Stand, Raja Nahar Singh Metro Station and Palwal Bus Stand.
The satellite city of Faridabad is the fourth NCR (National Capital Region) town to be connected to the Metro after Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad. The Violet Line runs between Kashmere Gate in Delhi and Ballabgarh in Haryana, and connects Faridabad with the national capital.
The bid for construction of an Expressway Connector to Samruddhi Mahamarg from Jalna to Nanded (Jalna-Nanded expressway) has received a good response, with 28 players evincing interest in the project.
Some of the major players from the construction industry including L&T, G R Infraprojects, Afcons Infra, IRB infrastructure and IRCON International have shown interest in the project by applying for the Request for Qualifications (RFQ).
Earlier in April 2023, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had invited RFQ to select eligible contractors for the construction of the 179.85 km Jalna-Nanded expressway.
The project has an estimated cost of Rs 10,733.2 crore with a completion period of 30 months and defect liability period of 10 years.
Jalna-Nanded Expressway
Maharashtra government has proposed to develop additional connectors or access controlled expressways to connect major districts in the state to Samruddhi Mahamarg.
Jalna-Nanded Greenfield Expressway is one such connector which will provide a direct and the fastest connectivity for Nanded, Hingoli, Parbhani and Jalna districts to the state capital Mumbai and further to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) as well.
The direct connectivity is expected to help reduce time taken to transport goods to international destinations and boost the economy of the rural parts of Nanded, Hingoli, Parbhani and Jalna districts.
The proposed expressway starts at Jalna on the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg and traverses southwest through Jalna, Parbhani and Nanded district and ends on the Nanded-Deglur-Telangana NH 161.
Indicative alignment of Jalna-Nanded Expressway.
The six-lane expressway will have a design speed of 120 kmph with a 100-metre right-of-way.
A unique feature of the expressway will be the provision of a 20-metre space for the construction of a high-speed rail corridor.
Samruddhi Corridor
Officially named ‘Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg’, the 701-km-long expressway connects Mumbai and Nagpur.
The six-lane highway is a green field alignment passing through 392 villages in 26 talukas of 10 districts, namely, Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Jalna, Aurangabad, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Thane.
The first phase of the Samruddhi Mahamarg, connecting Nagpur to the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district covering a distance of 520 km, has been in operation since December 2022, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it.
The second phase of Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg, an 80 km stretch between Shirdi and Bharvir village in Igatpuri taluka in Nashik district, was inaugurated on 27 May 2023 by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
With this, a total of 600 km out of the 701 km of the Samruddhi Expressway is now open to the public. The remaining 100-km stretch under Phase-III, between Igatpuri and Vadpe in Thane, will be completed in the next 7-8 months.
The Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) has approved the start of commercial operation of RAPIDX service on the Priority Section of Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS).
The RRTS is a new, rail-based, dedicated, high capacity, comfortable commuter service. The country’s first RRTS which is coming up in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) has been named as RAPIDX. The train will cover a distance of 82 km between Delhi and Meerut in 55 minutes instead of three hours.
The 17-km priority corridor of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot will have five stations — Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot.
The project is being implemented by the National Capital Region Transport Corporations (NCRTC) which works under the administrative control of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and is a joint venture of the Government of India (50 per cent) and state governments of Haryana (12.5 per cent), NCT Delhi (12.5 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (12.5 per cent) and Rajasthan (12.5 per cent).
With this, the NCRTC is ready to start the commercial operations of RAPIDX services within four years of start of the construction work in June 2019.
Earlier last week, Ministry of Railways had sanctioned RRTS Rolling Stock, which has a design speed of 180 kmph, at operational speed of 160 kmph, which is the full potential of the Rolling Stock.
With these approvals, Priority Section of RRTS has become first railway system in the country which is being opened for operations in its entire length at maximum operational speed of 160 kmph.
The NCRTC is aiming to commission the entire Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor for the public by 2025.
This sea route covers a distance of approximately 5,647 nautical miles and will bring down transport time to 12 days, almost a third of what is taken under the existing popular route from St. Petersburg to Mumbai.
India and Russia have scheduled a stakeholder meeting in September to work out the details for operationalising the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime route, the Businessline reported on Monday (26 June).
The Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime route connects Chennai on India’s east coast with Vladivostok, Russia’s eastern port city, opening a plethora of opportunities for trade and investment for both countries.
“Talks are on to operationalise the Vladivostok-Chennai maritime route. Russian officials came to India to carry out a feasibility exercise in May. And we (Indian officials) have gone there some months back to check out the infrastructure and other facilities there. A stakeholder meeting is planned in September,” Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal told Businessline during an interview.
Vladivostok is the end point of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the fourth in terms of cargo turnover, and the first free seaport of the Far East.
History
The Chennai-Vladivostok maritime link, which is being considered for revival is not a new phenomenon — it did operate for a few years during the Soviet period.
“It was very much operational between 1967 and 1969 by the shipping company FESCO; and the shipment took nearly 90 days given the shipping technology at work then following the maritime route Nakhodka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Calcutta, and Madras,” writes Dr Jajati K Pattnaik who teaches at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
The Chennai-Vladivostok maritime connectivity was first crystallised at the policy level during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Vladivostok in 2019 to attend both the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) and the annual Indo-Russia bilateral summit.
It was during this visit that the two sides signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) on the Development of Maritime Communications between the Port of Chennai and the Port of Vladivostok.
Existing Trade Route
The lack of connectivity is often cited as one of the reasons for limited trade between India and Russia, which has for the past few years hovered around the US $12-13 billion level.
At present, the two countries are linked through the traditional European route which passes through Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Baltic Sea.
Operationalised in 2000, the circuitous route spans from the Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai to the Port of St. Petersburg in Russia and goods take an average of 40 days to cover the distance of 8,675 nautical miles or about 16,000 km.
India-Russia Maritime Trade Route Map
The announcement of the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor is part of the vision to address the current lack of connectivity between India and Russia.
Saving On Time and Distance
The Vladivostok-Chennai route passes through the Sea of Japan past the Korean peninsula, Taiwan and the Philippines in the South China Sea, past Singapore and through the Strait of Malacca, to emerge into the Bay of Bengal and then cuts across through the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago to Chennai.
This sea route covers a distance of approximately 5,647 nautical miles or about 10,500 km and will bring down transport time to 12 days, almost a third of what is taken under the existing popular route from St. Petersburg to Mumbai.
At the same time, costs are expected to experience a substantial decrease, by 30-odd per cent.
Potential
A recent study carried out by Chennai Port found out that while coking or metallurgical coal, crude oil and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) are some of the cargo that can be exported from Russia, shipments from India could include construction equipment, construction materials, pharma, among others.
Further, the new route would also give India the largest presence in the South East Asian region. The strategic location of Chennai Port on the Bay of Bengal makes it an ideal gateway for trade with Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Similarly, the Port of Vladivostok in Russia provides access to the resource-rich Far East region, offering immense opportunities for Indian businesses to tap into the market sectors like energy, mining, and technology.
The Far East is the easternmost part of Russia. The macro-region borders two oceans, the Pacific and the Arctic, and five countries — China, Japan, Mongolia, the United States and the DPRK.
Located on the Golden Horn Bay north of North Korea and a short distance from Russia’s border with China, the region extracts 98 per cent of Russian diamonds, 50 per cent of Gold, 14 per cent of Tungsten, and 40 per cent of fish and seafood and has about one-third of Russia’s coal reserves.
The Agenda
The study by Chennai Port has also made some recommendations on the steps needed to make the project a reality.
One of the primary suggestions is the improvement and possible re-laying of approach roads to Vladivostok Port. Also, there are some issues with the draft at Vladivostok port that needs to be taken care.
“Whether we will need further investments, and what are the issues that needs to be taken care of from both sides, will be taken up in the September meeting,” Sonowal added.
On Monday (27 June), the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) announced plans to construct two new expressways and a rail link connecting Chola Railway Station in Bulandshahr on the Delhi-Howrah rail line to Jewar, the site of the upcoming Noida International Airport.
The proposed plan was approved at the 77th board meeting of YEIDA on Monday (27 June).
YEIDA will now seek approval from the Uttar Pradesh government for these projects and prepare a detailed project report (DPR) containing the budget and other provisions before commencing work at the site, as per officials.
Project Location
According to the plan, the two expressways will be separated by a 2.5km gap which will be developed into a warehousing and logistics hub, creating significant business opportunities and employment.
While one of the expressways will be 20km long, the other will be 16km long, with the rail link constructed along the 20km expressway. The rail link will connect the Jewar airport and the logistics hub to the Delhi-Howrah rail link located at Chola railway station in Bulandshahr.
The 75-metre-wide expressways will have parallel service roads and a green belt.
“The goal of constructing the rail link and the two expressways is to connect Jewar airport with the Delhi-Howrah railway line so that this region can benefit from rail connectivity and the high-speed Metro in the pipeline until Delhi. The government also plans to expand Chola Railway Station into a bigger platform to cater to the expected increase in traffic,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer of YEIDA.
Master Plan 2041
YEIDA has already approved the master plan 2041, which outlines the area for two expressways and a rail link to provide multi-modal connectivity to the Jewar airport and the dedicated space between the two expressways.
According to the master plan, the Yamuna Authority will acquire land from 55 villages in nearby Bulandshahr for this project.
Recently, nearly 55 villages of Bulandshahr were brought under the YEIDA area, with the Chola railway station on the Delhi-Howrah railway route and the under-construction eastern dedicated freight corridor, which runs parallel to the Delhi-Howrah railway line, falling within YEIDA boundaries now.
The Authority will start the the development of warehousing, logistics and connectivity projects following the land acquisition.
The Indian Railways is ready to commence production from its largest solar plant at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh.
The Railways’ second solar photovoltaic plant, the 50-megawatt (MW) facility follows the 1.7 MW unit commissioned in February 2022 at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.
The Raipur Division of the South East Central Railway (SECR) zone installed a solar plant spanning across 200 acres at Charoda near a national highway in Bhilai as part of the Railways’ strategy to solarise the rail network by utilising its vacant lands for renewable energy projects.
The plant with 1,54,500 solar photovoltaic panels installed, underwent two trials in May and June this year. The Railway Board will now take a call on how to use the solar output — whether to feed traction power for Indian Railways or for commercial purposes.
The project has been developed by Chennai-based Sherisha Rooftop Solar SPV that will operate the solar facility for over two-decades.
“It is the biggest solar plant of Indian Railways. Such projects are aimed towards making the Indian Railways green. Efforts are on towards reducing the carbon footprint by further augmenting the use of renewable energy with setting-up more solar plants in different regions by the Railways,” said Vipin Vaishnav, senior divisional commercial manager, Raipur Railway Division.
Net Zero
Indian Railways, the fourth largest railways in the world by network, has envisioned to become a green transporter by reducing its carbon footprint.
The objective is to minimise the use of coal and electricity from thermal power plants. With the vision of becoming green transporter with zero carbon emission, Indian Railways has envisioned to implement 30 GW of renewable energy power plants by 2030.
As part of this, rooftop solar panels have been installed across several railway stations in the country. Further, Indian Railways plans to harness about 500 MW of land-based solar power for traction purposes.
For this purpose, it has commissioned two pilot projects of 2 MW and 1.7 MW at Diwana in Haryana and Bina in Madhya Pradesh, respectively, on land along the railway track.
The 50 MW solar power at Bhilai which is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the third in series.
The extension work of the Jaipur Metro is all set to get underway.
This comes in the backdrop of the bids being invited for the civil work of metro link from Badi Chaupar to Transport Nagar (Phase 1C) and from Mansarovar to Ajmer Road intersection (Phase 1D).
The 2.85-km-long metro line beyond Badi Chaupar up to Transport Nagar under Phase 1C will have one elevated station at Transport Nagar and one underground station at Ramganj Chaupar.
Similarly, the 1.35 km metro line from Mansarovar upto Ajmer Road under Phase 1D will have one elevated station at Ajmer Road Chauraha.
The scope of the work includes design and construction of elevated ramp, elevated viaduct and two elevated stations for Phase-1C and Phase-1D as well as design and construction of twin tunnel by Shield TBM and one underground station for Phase-1C.
Jaipur Metro
The comprehensive mobility plan for Jaipur involves development of high-capacity metro lines along the east–west corridor from Mansarovar to Badi Chaupar, and the north-south corridor of from Ambabadi to Sitapura.
The East-West Corridor with a route length of 11.64 km and 11 stations has been opened in two phases.
Route Map of Jaipur Metro
The 9.63 km Phase-1A (Mansarovar to Chandpole) was successfully opened on 3 June, 2015 and the 2.01-km Phase-1B (Chandpole to Badi Chaupar) was successfully opened on 23 September, 2020.
The State government had first announced the Phase 1C and 1D expansion of Jaipur Metro in the budget for the fiscal year 2022–2023.
Subsequently, in January 2023, the Jaipur Metro Railway Corporation (JMRC) had appointed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as the general consultant for Line 1C and Line 1D.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), being the consultant will float tenders and commence the work on the extension project.
This is for the second time that DMRC will get the responsibility to make metro lines in the Pink City. Earlier, the Metro Agency has acted as a consultant for development of Phase-1A from Mansarovar to Chandpole.
