The construction of new cargo terminals and the addition of trains to facilitate transportation of goods and passengers got huge importance in the announcement of India’s fiscal budget for 2022-23.
The country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said India will develop 100 cargo terminals for multimodal logistics facilities during the next three years, while she added that as many as 400 new express trains will be launched in a period of three years to facilitate passenger and cargo movement.
The government has also emphasised on infrastructure building through the prime minister’s Gati Shakti scheme, raising the allocation by around 36% over the year.
The railway ministry has been given US$18.77 billion for the next fiscal year for infrastructural development targeting development in cargo and passenger transportation.
The Gati Shakti scheme in the new fiscal year will see massive spending in the fields of road, railways, highways, ports and public transport. The finance minister described the sectors as seven “engines of growth” and stated that highways will see an expansion of around 25,000 kilometres in the year.
In parallel, Indian railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw lauded the higher allocations saying this is a continuation of the trend that the railway sector has been receiving since 2014.
The economic survey, released on the occasion of budget, mentioned that the average turnaround time of ships in Indian major ports has reduced to 56 hours last year from 62 hours in 2020.
With the construction of new cargo terminals, the shipping sector will see a significant boost thus the performance in ports will improve significantly, according to the stakeholders, who lauded the decision of new terminals.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
