Hyderabad, Jan 28 (IANS): Hyderabad, with its strategic location and good infrastructure, has all the facilities to emerge as a logistics hub serving the growing manufacturing industry, Telangana Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao said.
The minister on Thursday inaugurated a state-of-the-art logistics park at Bata Singaram near the city, developed at a cost of Rs 40 crore in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Stating that Hyderabad is one of fastest growing cities in the world, he said there is potential for setting up of many logistic parks around the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
He asked Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to work on setting up logistic parks near eight important highways including those leading to Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ramagundam. He said the logistic parks will give impetus to the manufacturing sector.
KTR, as the minister is popularly known, revealed that draft of logistic policy is ready and it will soon be approved by the cabinet to encourage the sector.
He said the growth of this sector could provide employment opportunities to people. According to Logistics Skill Council, even those who have studied upto Class 10 or 12 can get jobs.
He referred to the reports by various research organisations, estimating the requirement of 1.5 crore square feet of warehouses. Currently, the city has 50 lakh square feet of warehouses.
Pointing out that Hyderabad is attracting many new industries, the minister said the city due to its central location in the country has the advantage of emerging as a logistics hub.
"If we create logistic parks, we can ensure smooth and hassle free movement of goods manufactured here to other parts of the country," he said.
KTR said that Hyderabad has the best infrastructure including 24 hours power supply. He claimed that the government has also ensured that the city faces no drinking water problem till 2040.
The logistics park at Bata Singaram in Ibrahimpatnam Assembly constituency has been developed by the HMDA in partnership with Truck Dock Logistics over 40 acres.
It provides facilities such as warehouses (2 lakh square feet), parking for 500 trucks, cold storage for 10,000 metric tonnes, dormitory for 200 persons, restaurants, office space, fuel stations, primary health centre, and automobile service centre.
The park has the potential to expand warehouse space by another 5 lakh square feet.
This is the second integrated logistics park to come up in Hyderabad. The first one at Mangalapally in the same constituency was inaugurated in 2019.
According to the HMDA, logistics parks act as an integrated one stop facility for freight operators, Third Party Logistic (3PL) service providers, cargo handling companies, truck drivers, warehousing, parking etc.