Elevated Freight Corridor need of the hour

Over 450 vehicles line up in Kotaveedhi area every day to reach VCTPL

Heavy vehicles loaded with container boxes lined up in front of the main gate of VCTPL in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.—Photo: K.R. Deepak

With freight traffic logjam for vehicles bound to Visakha Container Terminal assuming alarming proportions, the need to take up the proposed Elevated Freight Corridor from Convent Junction via the port area on priority has come into sharp focus.

The Greenfield terminal developed by the Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd., a joint venture of J.M. Baxi Group and DP World, under PPP mode in 2003 has been witnessing a steady rise in traffic over the years, causing traffic jams and chaotic scenes, particularly on the road leading to the terminal from Kotaveedhi.

Sources told

The Hindu that the VCTPL was handling on an average 15,000 boxes (20-foot equivalent units) per month in 2013. This has now crossed 30,000, leading to arrival of 450-500 heavy vehicles per day. Long line of vehicles is seen mainly in the Kotaveedhi area, which is very narrow.

Vehicles pass through from Convent Junction (Chavulamadhum) to Ambedkar statue (near port connectivity road arch) to Chilakala Junction, port area at GCB gate to reach the VCTPL. During evening hours, at any point of time, a jam stretching at least half a kilometre has become a common experience.

During the recent visit, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, after a review meeting with the stakeholders, said the Centre would sanction Rs.150 crore under Sagarmala for the project to ensure hassle-free movement of trucks carrying containers.

When contacted, a senior official of the Visakhapatnam Port said they were very serious about removing the bottlenecks to ensure hassle-free freight movement.

He said that as part of the detailed project report prepared by the NHAI, they would build a flyover from Chavulamadhum Junction to the port area. In another package, road widening would be taken up from the port area to the VCTPL point for which the DPR had to be prepared. The capacity of the VCTPL will be increased by 0.54 million TEU as part of extension of the existing terminal to increase its capacity to 1.2 million TEU. The expansion project, as per original estimates, will cost Rs.633.11 crore. Expressing concern over aggravating traffic situation, Sravan Shipping Services Managing Director G. Sambasiva Rao said that in the larger interest of the port, the work on the Elevated Traffic Corridor should be taken up on a war-footing with a parking yard in 40-50 acres, flyover, and free gate system (entry after proper documentation instead of verification of documents after gaining access to the corridor).