Too Many Trucks, Too Little Parking! Mangaluru needs a Logistics Park
Mangaluru: If you travel on the NH 66 between Panambur-Baikampady (MRPL) -Surathkal the entire road stretch is clogged with trucks, including a large number of heavy vehicles, particularly `bullet’ tankers, which makes traffic crawl at a low speed. The trucks coming from neighbouring States such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala transport LPG and petroleum. They are often parked on the roadside creating lots of hassles to other motorists.
Sources reveal that the truck terminus at Baikampady is not favoured by many truck drivers as it does not have basic facilities. The terminus, work on which was to have been completed fully, is far from the full-fledged truck terminus that the authorities promised. It, however, can accommodate 300 trucks that come to the New Mangalore Port and the terminus is always full, the truck drivers complain. The drivers have to search for parking space and run from pillar to post to get clearance from the authorities. This forces many drivers to park their vehicles wherever there is space, which often leads to traffic snarls. The truck crew needs resting places with good eateries, which are not there in Mangaluru. As per statistics, nearly 15,000 trucks come to Mangaluru daily, and at any given time, there are that many trucks in and around Panambur/Baikampady area, which affects the smooth flow of vehicular traffic.
In order to discuss this situation a talk “Creation of Logistics Park in Mangaluru” by C Mallikarjuna – Joint Commissioner Transport, and also Managing Director of D Devraj Urs Truck Terminal Ltd Mangaluru, along with Ramesh Vernekar-RTO, Mangaluru was organized by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday, 7 February at the KCCI Meeting hall. President of KCCI, Jeevan Saldanha welcomed the gathering and briefed about the topic, while Vice President of KCCI Vathika Pai introduced the guests.
Addressing the gathering, C Mallikarjuna said, “With so many trucks, including Bullet Tankers coming to Mangaluru, and especially those heading towards the industrial area in Baikampady and the vicinity, there is no proper parking for these vehicles, and also no proper facilities for the drivers, like toilet, shower etc- and sometimes these drivers go in for open defecation. On the prospects for the logistic sector in the country, and now, since the shipping and road transport ministries have been integrated, there has to be a focus on increasing the infrastructure, which is severely lagging. There need to be better roads, and improved facilities at the ports and industrial areas”.
“Why Logistics Park? In this modern age of logistics, businesses are under pressure to reduce logistics costs and improve serviceability. This translates to the reduction in truck turnaround time and goods damage, storage of more and more goods in the same space and serving the markets as fast as possible. All these requirements have put tremendous pressure on today´s stand-alone warehouses. The modern Logistics Park offers many features to meet today´s warehousing requirements, like Strategic location with good road, rail and air connectivity, better facilities for drivers, Large amount of warehousing space at a place, Ample truck and office parking space, Utilities like weighbridge, commercial complex and diesel generator (DG), Secured place with CCTV, high compound wall, lightning arrester, security personnel and fire protection systems.” added Mallikarjuna.
He further said, “With an aim to boost “logistics efficiency”, the Centre is looking at developing economic corridors and also planning to come up with logistic parks on national highways. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways got a study conducted on logistics efficiency enhancement. The report has made several recommendations including, inter alia, development of economic corridors, feeder routes and removal of chokepoints, along with the development of logistics parks on national highways. Recommendations have been accepted and the work of developing logistics parks at identified locations in partnership with state governments has been entrusted to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). According to information, the plan is to develop Rs 3-lakh crore economic corridor project to develop 35,000 km of highways for faster movement of freight. The economic corridors include Mumbai-Cochin-Kanyakumari, Bangalore-Mangalore, Hyderabad-Panji and Sambalpur-Ranchi to name a few. So Mangaluru is in dire need of a Logistics Park to ease out all the traffic congestion and so on”.
RTO Ramesh Vernekar also spoke on this issue and also stressed on the need of having a Logistic Park in Mangaluru. There was an interaction with the audience, where a few queries were posed at Mallikarjuana and the RTO, and they both answered to the best of their knowledge. Praveen Kumar Kalbhani- Secretary of KCCI delivered the vote of thanks.
