HMDA puts logistics park plans on the back-burner

ASKED ABOUT the status of the project, a senior HMDA official said that he was not supposed to talk to press persons, as per the written instructions of higher authorities.

The HMDA has put its plan to set up more logistic parks in cold storage. After inaugurating a logistic park each at Batasingaram and Mangalpally, the HMDA had announced in 2019 that it would construct 10 logistic parts along the Outer Ring Road (ORR), .

This proposal has remained on paper since then.

The Batasingaram and Mangalpally logistics parks were built on public private partnership (PPP) mode to provide facilities related to freight logistics, considering the location and strategic advantages of Hyderabad. The parks were to offer efficient logistics management and serve as regional hubs and integrated one-stop facility for freight operators, third party logistic (3PL) service providers, cargo handling companies, truck drivers, warehousing and parking.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao, while inaugurating a Mangalapalli logistics park in 2019, said it could provide parking for 250 trucks, warehousing, automobile service centres, fuel stations, cold storage, primary health centre, dormitories and restaurants. He said that it would provide direct employment to 800-1,000 persons and indirect employment to another

2,000. “This is the first of

10 logistics parks planned around ORR,” he said.

Following this, HMDA officials said that as per the comprehensive transportation study (CTS), the

HMDA has proposed building logistics parks and inter-city bus terminals (ICBT) in PPP mode at Miyapur, Pedda Amberpet, Shamshabad, Shamirpet, Patancheru and Manoharabad.

An official said that HMDA had invited a request for proposal (RFP) for appointment of a transaction advisor to conceptualise and prepare the project requirements.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP was selected as transaction adviser. The RFP for selection of developers was to prepared within four months. The project has not moved an inch since then. Asked about the status of the project, a senior HMDA official said that he was not supposed to talk to press persons, as per the written instructions of higher authorities. The official said he could neither disclose the status of the project nor comment on it.