Foundation Stone Laid for 150-Acre Sindi Multi-Modal Logistics Park in India

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 1, India's Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone (Bhoomipujan) for the Sindi Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) near Sindi railway station in Wardha district. The project covers approximately 150 acres at the boundary of the Nagpur–Wardha region and is being jointly developed by National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML, a wholly-owned SPV of NHAI) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), with AMARA TRANZ Solution as the development execution entity.

The project is being built in three phases under the PPP model, with a total estimated investment of INR 6.73 billion (approximately USD 79 million) and a concession period of 45 years. Phase I involves an investment of INR 1.37 billion, focusing on core infrastructure construction. The above investment and scale figures are based on the commercial operations announcement issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in April 2025; this foundation stone ceremony announcement did not revise the investment amount.

The core of the cost savings points to an alternative route toward Bangladesh, rather than the JNPA direction. According to the government announcement, cotton, cotton lint, yarn, textiles and oranges exported from the Vidarbha region can be transported by rail from the Sindi dry port to Haldia in West Bengal, then transshipped by inland waterway vessels to Bangladesh, without first traveling west to Mumbai. This route is expected to reduce transport costs from approximately INR 150,000 to INR 100,000 per container, saving about INR 50,000 per container. This estimate corresponds to specific cargo types and routes toward Bangladesh, rather than a uniform rate reduction for all cargo types and all destinations of the park. The JNPA direction is used for direct export of Vidarbha goods to international markets.

The park will build cold storage and warehouses to support the consolidation and dispatch of perishable agricultural products such as oranges and vegetables; establish a customs office to enable the facility to handle both domestic and international containers; and develop an exporter cluster integrating major industries in Nagpur and Wardha. These facilities form the functional basis for the park's transformation from a "railway endpoint" into a "regional consolidation and distribution hub."

This foundation stone ceremony, jointly promoted by NHLML and JNPA, is one of 35 multi-modal logistics parks under India's Bharatmala Pariyojana program. The program positions MMLPs as regional freight hubs connecting industrial centers, agricultural production areas and import-export gateways. The specific positioning of the Sindi park within this framework is as a dual-channel node serving both Vidarbha's agricultural exports (via Haldia to Bangladesh) and industrial goods exports (via JNPA to international markets).

This foundation stone ceremony corresponds to the formal development of the park's subsequent phases, rather than its first commissioning. At the ceremony, Gadkari confirmed that Maruti car trains have already begun operating from the project site.