Despite passing of about a year, government is yet to identify land and commence work on the much hyped dry port in Srinagar.
Former PDP-BJP government in 2018-19 J&K Budget speech had announced establishment of two inland hubs each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions but so far there is no headway on the Kashmir project.
The business community as well as trade bodies have urged the government to take up the construction of dry port in Srinagar at the earliest.
A senior official of industries and commerce department informed that out of two proposed dry ports in Jammu and Kashmir, the land for Jammu dry port has been identified, however there is no progress for Kashmir one.
“We fail to understand why government is not showing any urgency in identifying the land and starting work on the dry port in Kashmir,” he said adding that “there is a vast chunk of land available in Kashmir which could be utilised for setting up dry port.”
He said that though government has been arguing that till Kashmir is not connected by railway work on dry port won’t be started. “But there is opinion within policy makers in the industries department that till Kashmir gets rail connectivity we can start the process of identification and construction so as when the railway reaches the valley, we are ready with all the facilities.”
According to the officials and business community dry port in Kashmir can give fillip to the economy of the valley and give Kashmir’s indigenous products and horticulture items easy access to markets in Central Asia and other international markets.
“There is a dire need for dry port in Kashmir, as it can help in transportation and give access to international markets across globe to Kashmir products,” said President, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Sheikh Ashiq.
He urged upon the governor administration to start the work on the project at the earliest so that business community could reap the benefit of this development.
Former finance minister Haseeb Drabu, who, in his budget speech had announced setting up of two dry ports in Srinagar and Jammu and had signed the MoU with Dubai Ports in Dubai earlier this year, had stated that work on Jammu port is likely to be completed between 18 to 24 months.
The state government at that time had announced that the MoU for setting up inland logistic hubs in Jammu and Srinagar, as a joint venture between Dubai Ports and the Jammu and Kashmir Government, has been finalised for setting up the first inland logistics hub in Jammu and Kashmir.
The logistics hubs were to be established in Jammu and Kashmir with maiden Foreign Direct Investment of around Rs 1,500 crore by Dubai Ports and would have included two dry ports, warehouses, cold storage chain, controlled atmospheric stores and supply chain to transport commodities and products including horticulture and agriculture produce, handicrafts and industrial products from the state directly to the markets throughout the world.
One of the major problems of J&K economy is high cost of transportation of goods and products. It is believed that with dry port and cold chains, the commodities can move through an integrated transport chain bringing down transport costs by about 30 percent.
A dry port serves as trans-shipment point in transport of export/import goods and is named so because it is very similar to a seaport in services it offers except that it is not near a sea.
The UAE based port construction company, Dubai Ports that was awarded the contract, is operating 78 marine and inland terminals supported by over 50 related businesses in 40 countries.