The Hindu                    19.11.2011

CMDA sanctions Manjambakkam truck terminal

It will include weighbridge, service stations, petrol bunk, public convenience and restaurants

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) recently accorded administrative sanction for the Manjambakkam Truck Parking Yard project on Inner Ring Road.

The truck parking yard, to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.22 crore, would take 18 months to be completed.

The 12-acre facility would accommodate over 400 trucks of various sizes and is expected to reduce the number of accidents in the area because of haphazard parking of trucks on the roadsides.

The CMDA had earlier dropped the proposal to finance the development of the truck parking yard by exploiting the commercial space.

Instead, it decided to finance the development of the yard with its own funds.

The proposal to drop the earlier plan, of taking up the project under the public-private partnership mode, followed the report of a study commissioned by the CMDA. The CMDA decided to develop the facilities by utilising internal funds on account of the reluctance of private investors to invest in the prevailing market condition.

The development would be undertaken without the commercial component as it is the responsibility of the CMDA to plan for easing of traffic congestion, an official said.

The development of the parking yard with idle parking area would include facilities such as weighbridge, service stations, petrol bunk, spare part shops for truck repair, public convenience and restaurants.

The demand is expected to increase to 1,000 trucks after 10 years.

The objective of the project is to provide modern and functionally efficient truck parking yard.

The project would also ease traffic congestion as the number of trucks coming from other States has increased considerably, an official said.