"Land for Multi-Modal Logistics Park identified in Cachar," Himanta Biswa Sarma: "Jogighopa to be operational in 2022," Nitin Gadkari

The Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma today addressed media about the Multi-Model Logistic Park which is to be constructed in Jogighopa, Bongaigaon. He was speaking at the “Waterways Conclave” organized by the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways along with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) in Dibrugarh, Assam. The CM said seven hundred crore rupees have been sanctioned by the Union Ministry for the construction of this one of its kind logistic park. 

On June 30, 2020, when the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonwal’s cabinet approved the proposal to hand over 200 Bigha land to the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited for the construction of Multi-Modal Logistic Park in Jogighopa, there was an uproar in Barak Valley. Most accused the then government of taking away opportunities from the Valley depriving it of development.

But the government did have plans to initiate a Multi-Modal Logistic Park in Silchar as well. Back in 2020, February 11, the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Assam Industries & Commerce Department, Assam, wrote to the then DC of Cachar asking her to identify the land to establish the park.

Back then, MLA Cachar, Dilip Kumar Paul was not a big supporter of this project. He then said, “We get a lot of projects and then we lose them because we do not have adequate land. You cannot build a logistics park on the top of a hill”.

But MP Rajdeep Roy was of a different opinion. He believed that there is adequate land in Cachar and if we don’t find it in Silchar we can look in other legislative assembly constituencies. It is not that everything should be built in Silchar itself, what is important is that when we get such a project we must explore all possibilities to execute it. If necessary we can move to the outskirts of Silchar and other regions too”.

Today during the Waterways Conclave, CM Sarma said, land has been identified for the proposed Logistic Park in Silchar. Even though he didn’t mention any other information related to that project, he detailed the initiatives taken by the state and union government with different projects over the river Brahmaputra.

Last year, during the Lok Sabha’s Question Hour, Cachar MP, Dr Rajdeep Roy raised the question in the Parliament about the present status of the Multi-Modal Logistics Park that was proposed to be constructed in Silchar. On July 30, Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari responded to that question and informed that NHIDCL will carry out a Detailed Project Report (DPR) study for the Multi Kodak Logistics Park (MMLP). The response by the Ministry read, “The DPR work has been awarded to Consortium of M/s Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd (TCE) and M/s CBRE South Asia Private Limited. The DPR work has commenced on 09.04.2021 for the site (45.3 acres proposed by Govt of Assam vide letter dated 01.04.2021”.

Meanwhile, Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari announced that the MMLP in Jogighopa which was inaugurated by Gadkari as the first Multi Modal Logistics Park of India, will be operational by the end of 2022.