The Centre will soon announce a mechanism that will facilitate online submission and processing of applications for setting up Inland Container Depots (ICD), Container Freight Stations (CFS) and Air Freight Stations (AFS).
ICDs (considered as dry ports), CFS and AFS provide “services for handling and temporary storage of import/export laden and empty containers carried under customs control. Transhipment of cargo can also take place from such stations.”
The proposed reform — with a view to boost India's foreign trade — comes at a time when demands for setting up more ICDs, CFSs and AFSs in India have risen following the ₹8 lakh crore Sagarmala Programme on port-linked development as well as the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC).
The last reform of the ICD/CFS/AFS approval process was carried out in 1992 when an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) — under the aegis of Department of Commerce (DoC) — was constituted for the purpose.
Though the IMC is virtually a single window clearance mechanism, hailed as a major reform then, the process is now considered cumbersome as it involves submission of several documents and reports before and after the approval.
The newly proposed web-based mechanism, being developed by the government-owned National Informatics Centre Services Inc., is aimed at enabling the developer to submit applications online and track their status on a real-time basis, official sources told The Hindu .
According to the DoC, the move will “enable automation of the submission of applications, editing, updating of the applications by the promoter. There will be automated parallel processing of applications and display of status of the proposal both to the promoter and the IMC members.”
More transparency
The objective is also to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the IMC mechanism, the sources said, adding that the web-based module is also expected to lower entry barriers and help more players enter the field.
Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman had informed the Lok Sabha in November 2016 that (ever since the IMC was set up in 1992), Letters of Intent (LoIs) were issued for 319 proposals received from private developers, State and Central Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) for setting up of ICDs, CFSs and AFSs, as of November 17, 2016.
“Out of these, 233 ICDs/CFSs are functional, 50 are at various stages of implementation by the developers and 36 LoIs have been cancelled either on the specific request of the developer or due to lack of adequate progress in implementation of the project,” the Minister had said.
According to a July 2016 report on Dry Ports/ICDs/CFS sector in India by ‘Reports Worldwide,’ “India is the 16th largest maritime country in the world and it has got 12 major and 187 non-major ports.”
