Already this year in the Kundzinsala territory of the Freeport of Riga it is planned to begin construction works for the development of a spacious, multifunctional cargo handling, warehousing and logistics center that will serve as the hub for cargo distribution and consolidation for goods and products from India and other countries to the markets of Northern Europe, Russia and the CIS, says the Freeport of Riga.
As a result of an intensive long-term dialogue and cooperation between Latvian and Indian officials and businesses, the project is of interest to companies and the government of India, and the construction of a logistics center for Indian cargo will begin shortly. The development of the warehouse technical project is in process and is due to be completed in April this year, after which construction works are planned to be commenced.
Within the framework of the first stage of construction of the warehouse and logistics center of the Latvian-Indian business logistics company Bhandar, a warehouse complex of about 6 thousand square meters will be built, where it is planned to reload pharmaceutical products, food, chemicals and other cargo in the future. The investments attracted within the first phase of the project are mainly private and bank loans, but the government of India is also involved through agricultural export development instruments. The project developers emphasize that the project’s first-stage investments amount could reach up to 5 million euros, but investors are already planning further development of the complex.
Sumit Chakravarty, the Member of the Board of Bhandar, says: “The new logistics complex will serve not only as a warehouse, but will also offer goods packaging services. In addition, the logistics center is not only intended for Indian cargo but also for cargo from China, which will further be diverted towards Ukraine, Russia and European countries.”
Edgars Suna, Deputy CEO of the Freeport of Riga for Port Development Matters, points out: “This is a very important project for the Port of Riga. Within the context of geopolitical developments, in recent years we have been considerably focused on the search for alternatives to cargo flows, placing India as one of the new strategic focuses.”
Representatives of the Bhandar project emphasize that the current project does not exhaust the whole potential for cooperation between Latvia and India. Investor representatives note that the significant advantage of Riga compared to the other Baltic ports is the areas available for the port development and the geographic location – being in the center of the Baltic States, the relatively short distance between Riga and Moscow and the Scandinavian countries, which makes the investment environment especially attractive for the construction of new facilities in the port of Riga for the Indian commodity logistics. (PortNews/Business World Magazine)