Container Corporation of India (Concor) is setting up an inland container depot (ICD) at Sheetalpur in Baddi district of Himachal Pradesh.

Concor has started the work for Phase I and the platform is expected to be functional by March 2010. An MoU was signed between the Himachal Pradesh Government and Concor in end-2008 and the estimated cost of the project is around Rs 53 crore.

Work on the ICD is on full swing to develop the warehouses, administrative buildings and setting up basic infrastructure facilities.

The state government has transferred about 86 bighas (approx 18 acre) of government land valued at about Rs 16 crore to the company at a nominal lease of Re 1 per acre per year for a period of 95 years. The government is also negotiating with the farmers to acquire land for widening of roads leading to the depot. Moreover the extension of railway link till Baddi will further facilitate the import-export process.

However initially the depot is to function as container freight station till the time the location gets connected with the broad gauge railway line. Once the railway link comes up, the same will be converted into an ICD. The Union Government has already approved the 33.75 km long Chandigarh-Baddi new broad gauge rail link project with an estimated outlay of Rs 750 crore. But due to some land acquisition problems in the original route, the railways ministry is studying an alternate route for the project.

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