Government to begin online approval for movement of heavy transport

 Sachin Manawaria | The Dollar Business The government is taking steps to reform the poor logistics sector in India, and a key one among those will be the launch of an online facility for movement of heavy equipment within the country. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, is expected to launch a web portal for online approval of movement of Over Dimensional (OD) and Over Weight Cargo (OWC) on January 6, 2015. “This will provide an opportunity to save the time and avoid transit delays in the movement of equipment of national importance by modular hydraulic axel trailers,” the ministry said in a statement. Ever since the new government has come in power, it has taken decisions to bring back the economy on track with initiatives like “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns. The launch of the facility for movement of heavy equipment is one of the initiatives that will commensurate with the Digital India vision and boost the Make in India campaign, said the ministry. It added that the launch of the online web portal will be a path breaking initiative that will mark a new era of heavy transport in the country by ensuring digitalisation in the domestic logistic sector. The event is expected to witness around 200-250 major stake holders relating to heavy equipment manufacturers, projects owners, Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) companies besides various other research and academician from different institution across the country to discuss and lay the road map for future plans in the transport and road infrastructure development sector.  According to the World Bank, India’s competitiveness can improve significantly by removing bottlenecks in the logistics sector. It had said that regulatory impediments often leads to increasing transit times by around 25% in India. The government plan to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2016 is also expected to lower logistics costs and transit time significantly, which can improve the competitiveness of Indian goods in the international market.

 This article was published on January 3, 2015.