For seamless development of various infrastructure projects, the West Bengal government is anticipating to grant industry status to the state’s US$ 20 billion logistics sector. The state is also working on framing a logistics policy and it could require about Rs 1,000 crore to lay the initial groundwork to implement it in the short term. According to the official, “The status of industry will help the logistics sector smoothly develop infrastructure. The conversion of agricultural land to develop logistics related infrastructure will be easier. Getting access to land banks, state funding, incentives and single window support will also be easier.”
The authorities have suggested setting up a nodal agency, Logistics Development Council, with representation from both the industry and the government, for implementing the policy. The state is also contemplating to earmark 500 acre of land for logistics development, out of which 100 acre may be brought out from rehabilitated land with multimodal connectivity.