Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Topic: Freight Smart Cities

Why in News?

• The Logistics Division under the Ministry of Commerce has unveiled plans for freight smart cities to improve urban freight efficiency, and create an opportunity for reduction in the logistics costs.

Key Points

• The roadmap envisions the concept of ‘Freight Smart Cities’ to improve the efficiency of urban freight and create an opportunity for reduction in the logistics costs.
• Under the freight smart cities initiative, 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.
• These would also include the private sector from the logistics services and also users of logistics services.
• From the ten cities to be identified on immediate basis, it is planned to expand the list to 75 cities in the next phase before scaling up throughout the country including all state capitals and cities that have more than one million population.
• Facilities 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. will be developed.

Need

• 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 demand for urban freight is expected to grow by 140 per cent over the next 10 years.
• Final-mile freight movement in Indian cities is currently responsible for 50 per cent of total logistics costs in India’s growing e-commerce supply chains.
• The need for focus on city logistics was first discussed with States/UTs during the first National Conference of States on Logistics on 19th January, 2021.
• Taking this forward, the Logistics Division is working closely with GIZ (Germany) under Indo-German Development Cooperation, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India.
• Improving city logistics would also enable efficient freight movement and bring down the logistics costs boosting all sectors of the economy.