UP Gears Up To Build Robust Supply Chains For Industries

Lucknow, December 21 (TNA) In view of the enormous investor interest and establishment of industrial units worth lakhs of crores of rupees investment as a result of industry-friendly policies of the UP government, Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath has issued directions to further improve the industry ecosystem and build a robust logistics infrastructure in the state, an official said on Monday.

Consequently, the State government has nominated Additional Chief Secretary, Infrastructure & Industrial Development, Alok Kumar as State Nodal officer for developing the integrated state logistics plan aimed at overall development of logistics sector.

Kumar will head a newly created State Logistics Cell to function in sync with national logistics division for the development of supply chains and warehousing facilities for industries.

State government departments like Planning, Transport, Civil Aviation, Revenue, PWD, Export Promotion Bureau, U.P. Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) will be the key members on board, and nodal officers from Central agencies like National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Airports Authority of India (AAI), Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), etc. will be special invitees to the cell.

The State Government will also set up a State Logistics Coordination Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary to monitor the progress and implementation of the logistics plan.

Alok Kumar informed that in addition to granting ‘industry status’ to logistics sector, drastically reducing cost of land and operations, state government has already made numerous new provisions to give impetus to this sector. As a result Uttar Pradesh is attracting sizable investments in warehousing & logistics sector, so far, six proposals worth approx. Rs 438 Crores of investment have been received in the sector.

He further stated that the State government will work on six improvement parameters, viz. ‘ease of arranging logistics at competitive rates’, ‘quality of logistics infrastructure’, ‘quality of logistics service providers’, ‘safety security of cargo movement’, ‘efficiency of regulatory procedures’, and ‘State coordination & facilitation’ to strengthen the logistics infrastructure in State.

UP government launched its incentive policy for warehousing & logistics in 2018. Moreover, recently the Uttar Pradesh government has rationalised its land use policy to facilitate land for logistics sector at lower prices and lower conversion fees.

The development authorities in the State are accordingly amending their zoning regulations, master plans and by-laws to apply industrial land use and industrial land use conversion charges for logistics parks and units besides lowering the eligibility limits from 50 acres to 25 acres for setting up Logistics Parks across the state.

Along with network of expressways and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) intersecting at Dadri in Greater Noida, it is envisaged to be the largest logistics hub in India. State is coming up with Multi-modal Logistics/ Transport hubs at Boraki and Varanasi. Uttar Pradesh is one of the pioneering states to come up with Private Logistics Park Policy.

The upcoming Noida international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida, which will be one of the largest international airports in India, has added to the State’s advantage. Together with the upcoming National Waterways-1 to ferry cargo from the eastern seaport of Haldia to Varanasi, the connectivity web of air, water, road and rail network created in the state will help the industries and manufacturing units switch seamlessly between different modes of transport as they send their goods to markets in India and abroad.

Being one of the focus states under UDAN Regional Connectivity scheme, over 25 routes have been identified under the scheme in the state to strengthen the local air connectivity.