Container truck transit parking yard to provide parking space for 1,000 vehicles at a time
Container lorries queueing up near Ennore port trust causing hindrance to the general vehicular movement. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: To reduce congestion on the main roads leading to ports in north Chennai, the Chennai metropolitan development authority (CMDA), along with the Tamil Nadu housing board, proposes to construct a container truck transit parking yard in Eranavur at a cost of Rs 100 crore to provide parking space for 1,000 vehicles at a time.
The CMDA will develop the parking yard with all infrastructural facilities on 28 acres belonging to TNHB near the east side of the Ennore thermal power plant on Kathivakkam high road, official sources said.
Around 4,000 trucks and container trailers ply on the Ennore expressway, inner Ring road, Thiruvottiyur Ponneri Panchetti road day in and day out, to Chennai and Ennore ports. Lengthy and time consuming procedures in customs clearance and lack of coordination among various stakeholders lead to huge traffic congestion on the main roads leading to the port, causing great inconvenience to road-users and the general public.
“Once the parking yard is established, container trucks queuing on the main roads can be diverted to be parked in the yard on payment of prescribed parking fees. It will reduce blockage of traffic on the main roads,” sources said, adding that bids have been floated for preparing a detailed feasibility report and project report.
Blaming the private container terminal operators in the port and traffic police for of trailers piling up in north Chennai, D. Poongavanam of Chennai Port Private Trailer Drivers and Cleaner Thozhilalar Munnetra Sangam, said the congestion could be avoided by reducing the number of export declaration forms (form–13) issued in a day.
“On any given day, 40 to 50 per cent more form-13 are issued to trailers, compared to the expected number of ships to be berthed in the port,” he said. He also alleged that traffic police were taking money from drivers to allow over 200 vehicles via the Ennore creek bridge to Chennai port.
“It leads to a long wait for containers on the Ennore expressway,” he said. Due to heavy congestion, it takes nearly three days for trailers to reach the port from the container freight station. He said drivers of the trailers were facing the wrath of the people for traffic snarls that could be avoided if the port plans it better.
Trailer Owners’ Association secretary S.R. Raja questioned the feasibility of the proposed new parking yard at Eranavur. “There is already a parking yard at Sathangadu on the Ennore expressway near the Steel Market. It is not fully used by the trailers. Then how will this new one help reduce traffic?” he wondered.
Another trailer owner said unless traffic police ban the parking of vehicles on the road and diverts all vehicles to the parking yard, road congestion will continue. A senior Chennai port official said steps were being taken along with customs officials to speed up the document verification process at the entry points to reduce waiting time for vehicles on the road.
( Source : dc )
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