The Chennai Port Trust has purchased 125 acres of land at Sriperumbudur, an industrial town 50 kilometres away from Chennai, for $21.9 million (1 billion rupees) with the intention of building a dry port and multi-modal logistics hub at the location.

"The $83.2 million (3.8 billion crore) project (including land cost) will be developed in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode," G.K. Vasan, union shipping minister of India was quoted on Indo Asian News Service.

According to Vasan, the project will be targeted towards car manufactuers such as Hyundai Motor India and Ford India which are already exporting their vehicles through Chennai port.

The project will include the development of a roll on-roll off cum multi-purpose berth with a multi-level car park which will increase car exports from Chennai port to about 300,000 vehicles per year.