The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has dropped the proposal to finance the development of its Madhavaram Truck Terminal and Manjambakkam Truck Parking Yard by exploiting the commercial space at the facilities. Instead, it has decided to finance the development of additional facilities at the terminal and the yard with its own resources.
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 CMDA. The study found that the PPP model would not be feasible.
The CMDA decided to develop the facilities by utilising internal funds as private investors will not be ready to invest in this market condition, one of its senior officials said.
The commercial development of office space was proposed as a means for helping the private investor. Now, the development would be done without the commercial component as it is the responsibility of the CMDA, the official said.
500 trucks
The development of the truck terminals with idle truck parking area would include facilities such as weighbridge, service stations, petrol bunk, spare part shops for truck repair, public convenience and restaurants. The facilities would have the capacity to accommodate over 500 trucks of various sizes. The demand is expected to increase to 1,000 trucks after 10 years.
Apart from the two facilities, the CMDA had proposed the PPP mode for the Chennai Contract Carriage Bus Terminus and development of space at the MRTS stations.
The existing truck terminal in Madhavaram was developed by the CMDA near the junction of 100 feet Road and the GNT Road to decongest the city. The proposed development would be on the land abutting the terminal. The objective of the project is to provide modern and functionally efficient truck terminal, beneficial to the transport operators and lorry booking agents. The project would also ease traffic congestion as the number of trucks coming to the terminal had increased considerably, an official said.
