New Delhi, 21 Dec (KNN) In order to reduce transportation and logistic cost, the union government along with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working on warehouse policy, which will lay the roadmap for developing exclusive warehousing zones through public-private partnerships as reported by mint.

NHAI member Manoj Kumar said the policy is at the final stages and will be out in public domain before the year-end. To avoid traffic congestion within the city, zones with proper storage facilities will be set up on the outskirts of major cities, he added.

The zones will use land bank along highways and expressways available with the NHAI. Under the public-private partnership (PPP) model land will be offered to private developers for constructing warehousing zones on a revenue-sharing basis or for a fixed fee. 

The warehousing zones will benefit fast-moving consumer goods companies and steel and cement makers to stock inventory near major hubs.

The proposed warehousing zones are part of the government’s initiatives to reform the transport sector that accounts for a majority of goods movement across India.

The warehousing zones and multi-modal logistics parks, which are also being set up by the NHAI, will help reduce overall logistics costs that remains at a high level of 14-16% of gross domestic product (GDP) compared 8-10% of GDP in China and 12-13% in the US according to reports.

Once the zones are operational, the carrying capacity of trucks could also be increased as large goods vehicles will no longer be needed to ply on city roads, which in turn will help ease major traffic congestions Manoj Kumar added.