Industries in drought-prone Marathwada region which is now suffering due to unseasonal rains hope that dry port coming up in Jalna would accelerate industrialisation in the region. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) officials working on the port informed the State government that the work on the port would be completed by this year-end.

About 70 per cent of over 5,000 small and medium-size enterprises around Aurangabad are dependent on the automobile sector. In the last few years, industries have suffered heavily as droughts, and unseasonal rains paralysed the rural economy of the region.

After Videocon closed its operations in Aurangabad, no major industry has come to the region. State Industry Minister Subhash Desai who recently took a review of dry port work is confident that the new infrastructure would provide a significant boost to the industries in the region. He said that dry port connectivity would help enterprises to reach out to the other parts without any hindrance.

The port would have customs clearance facilities, container freight station, storages and terminals and would be connected to the railway's network and highways.

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