Cuttack, Nov 19 (PTI) The Odisha government has decided to set up truck terminals along the highways to reduce accidents caused by the parking of heavy vehicles on the roads, an official said.Out of 5,081 accident fatalities in 2021, nearly 25 per cent were due to collision of vehicles with illegally parked trucks on the highways, Additional Commissioner Transport, Lalmohant Sethi, said.For curbing such accidents, the State Transport Authority (STA) decided to construct truck terminals to streamline vehicle parking on the highways, he said.The STA has invited an expression of interest (EoI) for the construction, development and maintenance of truck terminals on Public Private Partnership (PPP).The Commerce and Transport department has already identified land at Sundergarh, Balasore, Kendrapada, Angul, Bhadrak and Nabarangpur for the construction of such terminals, the official said.“The core objectives of developing the integrated truck terminals on PPP basis is to reduce accident and fatalities due to parking on roads, to make the best use and effective utilisation 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.The terminals will have warehouses and cold storage facilities, restaurants, weighing bridges, loading and unloading areas, dormitories, bathrooms, ATMs, health clinics and other facilities, he said.The broad scope of work of the bidder would include financing the total project cost, construction of the truck terminal, and operation and maintenance of the developed facilities.The six identified locations will provide modern and controlled manner truck parking besides generating revenues from commercial establishments developed on the PPP model, the official said.The identified vacant lands have huge potential for monetising by providing truck terminals for parking trucks and developing commercial spaces, he said.The STA has invited EOI from various local, national and international developers who are well conversant with the development of integrated truck terminals on PPP mode. PTI AAM MM MM