Conceptualised 12 years ago, India’s first Multimodal Logistics Park at Mappedu near Chennai will see the limelight as Reliance Industries starts construction in June, according to multiple sources. In 2022, the company beat Adani Group to win the bid for the Rs 1,424 crore project on 184.27 acres of land in Tiruvallur district.

The project aims to facilitate efficient, cost-effective and value-added logistics services such as cargo aggregation and disaggregation, distribution, intermodal transfer, sorting, packing, and repacking. However, it did not take off due to the poor response from the private sector on issues like connectivity.

In 2022, the Centre awarded the contract to Reliance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone on May 26, 2022. However, many issues, including road access to local villages, delayed the start of the construction. All these have been sorted, and the construction is to start in June, they said.

In October 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed among Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, National Highways Logistics Management Limited and the Chennai Port Trust.

It is located 52 km from the Chennai Port, 80 km from Ennore Port and 87 km from Kattupalli Port. It will be a focal point of logistics in the southern region. It is estimated to cater to around 7.17 million tonnes (mt) of cargo over 45 years.

According to a pre-feasibility report, the project will also serve as secondary market clusters in Ranipet, Ambur, Tirupur, and Bengaluru, which are home to industries like leather, heavy machinery parts, automobiles, cement, sugar and chemicals.

The project is also near the automobile and electronics manufacturing clusters on the Sriperumbudur-Oragadam industrial belt and near Chennai Peripheral Ring Road.

However, the project’s success will depend on rail connectivity from Mappedu to the ports, said sources.

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