In a move aimed at addressing the problem caused by haphazard parking of container lorries along the Container Terminal Road, a parking yard capable of accommodating 180 container lorries will be readied at Vallarpadam before this Onam.
The yard is being readied on a land along the backwaters owned by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) opposite the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal. BPCL’s new petrol pump on the land will be commissioned shortly while the construction of the toilet complex has already been completed.
District Collector K.Mohammed Y.Safirulla visited the site on Wednesday to review the work. He directed officials to complete the remaining work at the earliest.
The parking yard will be spacious enough to accommodate 100 container lorries of 20-feet long, and 80 container lorries that are 40-feet long. Already, parking space is being provided to 75 lorries in the completed portions of the yard.
The High Court had ordered the intervention of the district administration after illegal parking of container lorries along the Container Terminal Road caused frequent accidents, which claimed many lives. Consequently, the District Collector issued an order banning parking along the road.
However, it had to be relaxed after container lorry owners went on a strike in protest against the parking ban. It was called off following a conciliatory meeting convened by Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran.
The parking ban will be strictly implemented once the parking yard is ready. The Collector had also directed secretaries of local bodies situated along the Container Terminal Road to instal street lights on roads passing through their limits.