Reliance Industries’ ambitious multi-modal logistics park project at Mappedu near Chennai has been renamed Chennai Global Logistics Park Ltd, with Dubai-based DP World coming on board as a joint venture partner, according to multiple sources familiar with the development.
Sources indicated that DP World has acquired a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture and has also taken nearly two lakh sq ft of warehousing space within the logistics park. Both Reliance Industries and DP World declined to comment on the development.
In a further sign of DP World’s deeper involvement in the project, Ajay Moghe — associated with the DP World group since 2017 — was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Chennai Global Logistics Park Ltd in January this year, sources added.
The logistics park currently houses five warehouses, with three already having onboarded clients, according to people aware of the matter.
Spread across 184.27 acres in Tiruvallur district near Chennai, the project was originally conceptualised around 14 years ago but faced several delays, including issues related to village access roads and infrastructure connectivity.
In 2022, Reliance Industries won the bid for the ₹1,424-crore project, beating the Adani Group. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project on May 26, 2022.
A pre-feasibility report had highlighted the strategic importance of the logistics park as a cargo consolidation hub catering to secondary industrial clusters such as Ranipet, Ambur, Tiruppur and Bengaluru. These regions host industries spanning leather, heavy engineering, automobiles, cement, sugar and chemicals.
The park is also located close to the Sriperumbudur-Oragadam automobile and electronics manufacturing corridor and near the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road. Industry sources said the project’s long-term success would depend heavily on dedicated rail connectivity between Mappedu and Chennai’s ports to improve cargo evacuation efficiency and reduce logistics costs.
