Bringing historical Kila Raipur village on international economic scene, the Union Minister for Railways Mr. Suresh Prabhu and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal would jointly lay the foundation stone of Multi Modal Logistics Hub (MMLH) at Kila Raipur in Ludhiana district on May 14. The coming up of MMLH would provide economic boost to the district and would even generate employment for people living in and around Kila Raipur village.The Kila Raipur village is famous for its rural olympics, which are being organised there for the last several decades. A decision in this regard was taken by the Chief Minister while presiding over a high level meeting of the officers of the state government and the Railways Ministry at his office in Chandigarh yesterday.
While giving information, Punjab Irrigation Minister Mr Sharanjit Sing Dhillon informed that the MMLH is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 500 crore in Kila Raipur and it would prove to be a game changer for the industry of the state. This MMLH would provide direct linkage to the Eastern Freight Corridor adding that Ludhiana-Dhuri-Jakhal feeder line would join it with the Western Corridor at Rewari thereby immensely benefitting the industry of the state by prompt, easy and cheap transport of raw material and finished goods through the Railways.Mr Dhillon said that the MMLH is important for the industry because in future as per Foreign Trade Act, 1992, only MMLH could handle Export- Import (EXIM) Cargo. He said that this MMLH would be enabled with the facility for Reefer Containers for Domestic and International Cargo, silo storage for One Lakh Metric Ton grains, the Domestic Terminal would have storage facility on the Railhead for Steel, Fertilizer, Cement and others that would cut down logistics cost drastically.
This MMLH will be equipped with the ultra modern facilities like container handling yard, bulk handling yard, Rail side Warehousing, Multi user Warehousing, Temperature controlled Warehousing, Truck terminus and others.At present the Export-Import (EXIM) traffic of Punjab was 4 lakh containers and domestic traffic from Punjab was about 25000 Containers. After the completion of first phase of this project by March 2016 it would capture EXIM traffic generated in the area and the projected traffic would be 7.5 Lakh containers i.e. 45% of the total traffic by 2035. The Double Decker carriage to be initiated from this MMLH would ensure 33% reduction in Inland Transportation Cost.
This project would provide direct employment to about 500 organized Labour whereas indirect employment to about 2,000 transporters, 1500 private labour and 500 third party Surveyors, besides several others. Accompanied by senior District Administration officials, Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon visited the site today. Prominent among those present on the occasion included Gill MLA Mr Darshan Singh Shivalik, Dakha MLA Mr Manpreet Singh Ayali, MD Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Mr A S Bains, senior government official Mr HPS Brar, besides several others.