Jharsuguda, Odisha notified as ICD for imported goods and loading of export goods

The Dollar Business Bureau

Under the aegis of Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR), a multi-modal logistic park was set up at Jharsuguda which has been operational since June. The CBEC has decided to include Jharsuguda as an Inland Container Depot (ICD) in its latest notification No.139/2016-Customs (N.T.) dated 25th November, 2016.

Jharsuguda is the second ICD in Odisha after Balasore. CONCOR Jharsuguda was operational as a Domestic Container Terminal for the first 3-4 months and later converted as an ICD. This terminal will provide dedicated service to the industry along with customs clearance and cargo consolidation facilities.

In recent times Jharsuguda district has witnessed large scale industrialisation due to the ambitious plans of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. One such proposal was the setting up of the large-scale aluminium smelter plant by Vedanta. Jharsuguda is also home to India’s largest cement manufacturing unit of Ultratech Cement, of the Aditya Birla group, steel units like Bhushan Power & Steel Limited, Action Ispat Ltd, Eastern Steel & Power Ltd, Concast Steel & Power Ltd to name a few.

There are 46 ICDs in India with 28 of them listed under Rail ICDs having Container Freight Stations (CFSs). Odisha’s Jharsuguda and Balasore come under Rail ICDs with CFSs. Logistically Jharsuguda is closer to Visakhapatnam Port and plans are also underway by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust to acquire 200 to 400 acres of land in order to set up dry ports in Jharsuguda, Hyderabad and Raipur.

On the railway route, Jharsuguda is an important railway junction on the Tatanagar-Bilaspur section of the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line and the Jharsuguda-Vizianagaram line. The CCEA(Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs)  in June, under the aegis of the Prime Minister approved the construction of a 206 km long fourth railway link between Jharsuguda and Bilaspur with an estimated cost of nearly Rs.1980 crores. This line is expected to be completed in 5 years. The railway line will link Jharsuguda with Raigarh-Janjgir-Naila and Bilaspur districts of Chhattisgarh. This line is a vital link in the transportation of freight and passenger traffic from the eastern and southern sections of India to its northern and western parts.

The development of this burgeoning industrial centre, forms a part of the dynamic Sagarmala project under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) of the Ministry of Shipping. The NPP identified a total of seven MMLPs (Multi Modal Logistic Parks) in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana. These sites were earmarked after undertaking a comprehensive study of the container cargo movement across the country and their proximity to important industrial clusters.