Freight Smart Cities Initiative
Source : Indian Express
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What we discuss under Freight Smart Cities Initiative ?
- Need for Freight Smart Cities Initiative
- How it plans ?
Why in News ?
Commerce Ministry’s Logistics Division unveils plans for Freight Smart Cities, also launches portal and handbook with 14 key measures to enhance urban freight systems.
- The concept of Freight Smart Cities to improve the efficiency of urban freight and create an opportunity for reduction in the logistics costs.
Key Facts
- Need for Freight Smart Cities Initiative
- With growing urbanisation, requirements of rapid economic growth including e-commerce and associated first and last mile freight movements increasing congestion, noise and sound pollution in the Indian cities is a menace affecting both public health and local economies.
- The Logistics Division under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has decided to work in a planned manner to improve the city freight movement.
- Demand for urban freight is expected to grow by 140 per cent over the next 10 years.
- Freight movement in Indian cities is currently responsible for 50 per cent of total logistics costs in India’s growing e-commerce supply chains.
- Improving city logistics would also enable efficient freight movement and bring down the logistics costs boosting all sectors of the economy.
- Launched the website on Freight Smart Cities.
- Also released a handbook outlining 14 measures that can be taken to improve urban freight.
- 14 measures presented in the handbook represent high-leverage areas for cities to improve their economic competitiveness and reduce congestion and pollution.
How it plans ?
- State Governments to identify ten cities to be developed as Smart Cities.
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay - Also to set up institutional mechanism for the same involving the Government as well as Private stakeholders like Logistics services providers, users and citizens.
- The States/City Governments to focus on the quick-wins like developing peri-urban freight centres, night-time deliveries, developing truck routes, using Intelligent Transportation Systems & modern technologies, Promoting electrification of urban freight , Parcel delivery terminals etc.
- City-level logistics committees would be formed.
- These committees would have related government departments and agencies at the local level, state and from the reacted central ministries and agencies.
- These would also include private sector from the logistics services and also users of logistics services.
- These committees would co-create City Logistics Plans to implement performance improvement measures locally.
- On the Freight smart city initiatives, the Logistics Division is working closely with GIZ (Germany) under Indo-German Development Cooperation, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India.
- A challenge is expected to be announced to encourage the participation of cities in this initiative.
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