Cuttack: In a bid to curb road accident fatalities caused by unruly parking of heavy vehicles on the roads, the State Government has planned to set up truck terminals along the national and state highways under 5T initiative.
The State Transport Authority (STA), Odisha has invited an expression of interest (EoI) for construction, development and maintenance of truck terminals on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Transport department has identified land at Sundergarh, Balasore, Kendrapada, Angul, Bhadrak and Nabarangpur for this purpose.
The core objectives of developing the integrated truck terminals on PPP basis is to reduce accidents and fatalities due to on road parking, to make best use and effective utilization of resources, to provide best class facilities for parking of trucks, prevent encroachments, provide direct and indirect employment and encourage redevelopment of neighbourhoods.
Shedding light in this regard, Lalmohan Sethi, Additional Commissioner Transport, Road Safety said, “In 2021, out of 5,081 accident fatalities, nearly 25 per cent were due to collision of vehicles with illegally parked trucks on the highways. With emphasis on eradicating such accidents, STA decided to construct truck terminals to streamline vehicle parking and movement on the highways.”
The terminal will have warehouses and cold storage facilities, petrol bunk, restaurant, weighing bridge, loading and unloading area, dormitory, toilets and bathrooms, ATMs, health clinic and other facilities.
The broad scope of work of the bidder would include financing the total project cost, construction of Truck Terminal along with parking facility, operation, and maintenance of developed facilities during concession period and development of commercial facilities, he said.
Mr.Sethi further informed that the six identified locations will provide modern and controlled manner truck parking besides generating revenues from commercial establishments developed on PPP model. They identified vacant lands having huge potential for monetizing by providing Truck Terminal for parking of trucks and developing commercial spaces.
These sites will be developed as integrated truck terminals with commercial components in the form of office/ commercial buildings, hotels & hospitality, malls & multiplexes and others, he said.
STA has invited EOI from various local, national and international developers who are well conversant with the development of integrated truck terminals on PPP mode.