Pune to boast dry port and global business hub

Even as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that work on Pune’s international airport would start at Purandar tehsil, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government wants to develop a “dry port” in Pune, which will be connected to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) via rail link. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already identified and surveyed land in Purandar taluka, Pune for the international airport.

“The AAI team conducted a feasibility survey of the land in Purandar. Since the approval has come, we will now start the further process. The local people too are positive about the airport,” said Fadnavis, adding that the state government will be holding a meeting with Maharashtra Airport Development Authority.

Addressing the annual general meeting at the MCCIA, an industry body, Gadkari elaborated on the dry port. “Since a lot of export and import is being done from Pune, I am ready to give a dry port to the city so that all the sealing of the containers can be done here and they can be sent to JNPT via rail,” he said.

Highlighting the benefits of the rail link, Gadkari said that if the produce is sent via rail, the container traffic on (Pune-Mumbai) Expressway will decrease. “This will reduce pollution as well,” he said. The union ministry is already developing dry ports in Nagpur, Wardha, Aurangabad and Jalna in Maharashtra.