Odisha Govt to Set up Truck Terminals along National and State Highways to Curb Fatal Road Accidents

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to curb road accident fatalities caused by unruly parking of heavy vehicles on the roads, the Odisha Government has planned to set up truck terminals along the national and state highways under 5-T initiative.

The State Transport Authority (STA), Odisha has invited an expression of interest (EoI) for construction, development and maintenance of Truck Terminal on Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The department has identified land at Sundergarh, Balasore, Kendrapada, Angul, Bhadrak and Nabarangpur for the construction.

The core objectives of developing the integrated truck terminals on PPP basis is to reduce accident 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, to prevent encroachments, to provide direct and indirect employment, to encourage redevelopment of neighbourhoods and to achieve foster greater economic health, the STA said.

Shedding light in this regard, Lalmohant 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.

Sethi further informed, “The six identified locations will provide modern and controlled manner truck parking besides generating revenues from commercial establishments developed on PPP model. The identified vacant lands having huge potential for monetizing by providing Truck Terminal for parking of trucks and developing commercial spaces.  These site will be developed as integrated truck terminal with commercial components in the form of office/ commercial buildings, hotels & hospitality, malls & multiplex and others.”

STA has invited EOI from various local, national and international developers who are well conversant with the development of integrated Truck Terminal on PPP mode. The last date for receiving pre-bid queries and clarification is Dec 2nd, 2022.