The Union Territory administration is fast-tracking the process of raising two dry ports in Jammu and Kashmir—one each in Samba and Katra, in Jammu—in the next financial year, which would come as a remarkable relief to both, the entrepreneurs as well as the people.

In an official meeting presided over by Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on Tuesday, it was revealed that the Department of Industries and Commerce was establishing a dry port at Katra as an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road and rail to a seaport for the trans-shipment of cargo to be traded from Jammu and Kashmir.

The dry port will house container terminals and Customs office to facilitate exports and imports directly from Jammu and Kashmir. It will be part of a major industrial and economic package which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to unleash around April 10. Authorities are trying to seek clearance of the Election Commission of India for the big launch by Prime Minister even as the electioneering is underway in West Bengal.

Regarding the proposed dry port at Katra, a senior official said: “We are planning it in a way so that all export-import formalities, including the customs, are conducted at Katra, exactly the same way these are done at a seaport in Mumbai or Gujarat. It will drastically cut down the costs and bring substantial relief to all concerned”.

According to the officials, the UT government was in the process of identifying land around Katra in Reasi district which could be allotted to a private company with or without collaboration with Container Corporation of India (Concor), a Government of India Navratna Company.

The establishment of the dry port would turn the northern India’s major pilgrimage town of Katra in Jammu into a big business hub. Around one crore pilgrims visit the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi near Katra in normal times every year. Currently Katra is the last train station on Delhi-Pathankot-Srinagar-Baramulla railway link as the work is still underway on Katra-Banihal track. Train service operate between Delhi, Pathankot and Jammu to Katra and also between Banihal and Baramulla through Srinagar.

Officials said that work on J&K’s first dry port had already begun at Samba where over 200 kanals of land had been allotted to Associated Container Terminals Ltd (ACTL). The company has paid premium of Rs 20 crore and started the work recently. It has laid its private rail track linking the dry port site with the Jammu-Pathankot-Delhi rail track.

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ACT is planning to raise sizable containers where it would deliver and store the goods brought through a fleet of its goods trains from different stations across northern India.

The Mufti government’s plan of creating a dry port in collaboration with a UAE-based company in Kashmir has failed as the promoters demanded at least 1,000 kanals of land which could not be made available.

ACTL, the first private sector Inland Container Depot (ICD) in North India handles sea-bound containerised cargo facilitating exports and imports. It pioneered the establishment of dry ports in northern India by becoming the first private ICD commissioned in July 1997 as a ‘Public Bonded Warehouse’ under section 57 of the Custom Act.

ACTL’s main objective is to establish, manage, operate and maintain Inland Container Depots, Container Freight Stations, Container Terminals Storage Yards and Warehouses.

The company constantly invests in terminal infrastructure and facilities, working closely with business partners to provide quality services at all times. With this customer-centric approach, ACTL has created milestones of success since inception in 1997. Today ACTL is seen as a pioneer in the industry and the service levels offered are considered industry benchmarks.

ACTL also owns a fleet of trailors, forklifts, reach stackers, cranes and a special 24- axle 350-MT capacity railway wagon to carry ODC (over dimensioned cargo) for power projects and fertilizer plants, it has become the logistics arm of the group. Its promoter RR Joshi (Shipping and Forwarding) Pvt Ltd is a licensed Custom House Agent handling Customs Clearance, International Freight Forwarding of Containerized as well as specialized project cargo, operating out of major ports in India.