Odisha: 120 human lives lost in a year due to mobile phone distraction while driving
Distracted driving due to the use of mobile phones has contributed to the rising road accident fatalities in the State.
As 25 per cent fatal accidents are caused due to illegal parking of vehicles along highways, the Odisha Government has drawn up a plan to set up truck terminals along the national and state highways.
“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. The STA has decided to construct truck terminals to streamline vehicle parking and movement on the highways,” said Lalmohan Sethi, Additional Commissioner Transport, Road Safety, on Saturday.
The State Transport Authority (STA) has invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) for construction, development and maintenance of truck terminals in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The department has identified land at Sundergarh, Balasore, Kendrapara, Angul, Bhadrak and Nabarangpur for the construction.
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The key objectives of developing the integrated truck terminals on the 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 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 terminals along with parking facility, operation and maintenance of developed facilities during concession period and development of commercial facilities.
The 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 2 December, 2022.
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