Integrated transport system needed to boost growth, say ministers

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) There is a need to integrate all the transport systems to cut down on logistics costs and boost growth in the country, ministers across the board unanimously said on Thursday.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said there was an urgent need to integrate all transport systems.

Concurring with him, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said logistics cost was "very high" in India because various modes of transport grew in an "un-integrated manner".

Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said while there was an "impressive growth" in road, waterways, air and rail sector, connectivity between them was required so that farmers could take their produce to market in time and get better prices.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit here, Railways Minister Prabhu said that with the implementation of the GST, trade and business would grow in India at a much faster rate.

"While fiscal barriers to the movement of goods have been done away with, the physical barriers also need to be removed," he said.

The Minister added that to make transport systems in the country truly efficient, there was need to focus on "integrated, seamless, multi-modal growth".

Gadkari said India's high logistics cost - at 13-14 per cent of the GDP as against 7-8 per cent in developed economies - could be brought down through integrated, multi-modal transport planning.

"It will help us to achieve a healthy modal mix of transport, which is efficient, faster, safer, import substituting, cost effective and pollution free."

Paswan added that procurement, storage and distribution of agricultural produce needed proper and efficient logistics system to plug leakages, avoid rotting of grains and other perishable items and timely transport of the produce to the market.

Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy agreed on the need to develop infrastructure and logistics and added that skilled man power was also required.

"Without skilled people, efficient logistics development is not possible... We have to create skilled man power support at the back-end of the logistics that we develop," he said.

He emphasized on the need to train the youth to make the best of the upcoming opportunities.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while India was well-placed to look afresh at multi-modal transport systems and adopt them as per the requirement, "but reaching the last mile with much more efficiency is also important".

"My question is why do we talk about logistic hubs and multi-modal transport systems only with respect to the freight corridors? I feel there is a need to have a more spread-out approach," she said.

The India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit, which ends on Friday, aims to facilitate constructive dialogue for the development of multi-modal infrastructure in the country.