Dhaka North gets land for building multi-storey truck terminal at Tejgaon

The Dhaka North city has obtained 5.11 acres of land from two ministries to build a multi-storey truck terminal in Tejgaon, the capital's industrial hub.

This is a significant development towards building the new truck terminal, for it could solve the perennial traffic congestion in Tejgaon, caused by hundreds of trucks carrying goods from different parts of the country and parking on the streets around Karwan Bazar, the capital's consumer goods hub.

Selim Reza, chief executive officer of Dhaka North, told The Business Standard that the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology had allotted 3.5 acres of land, and the Ministry of Housing and Public Works had allotted 1.61 acres of land.

A project will now be undertaken to construct the terminal. The project structure, cost, funding source, and implementation period will all be determined during this phase, according to Reza.

Earlier, Dhaka North City Mayor Atiqul Islam announced plans to build the terminal in a meeting with truck owners on 30 December 2020. Dhaka North then applied to the ministries for the required land and received it in October.

The Department of Architecture is expected to design the terminal and the Public Works Department will construct it.

A Dhaka North official said the multi-story terminal will have a parking capacity of 2,000 vehicles and can handle up to 5,000 vehicles daily with turnover.

The terminal will have both underground and surface sections, but the surface section will be larger. Only the decision to build the terminal has been finalised and details of the project will be decided after the general elections, scheduled to be held in January next year.

The existing truck terminal at Tejgaon has long caused severe gridlocks in the capital. Trucks, pickups, and covered vans are parked on the main road from the Satrasta intersection to Karwan Bazar and its surrounding alleys, disrupting normal vehicular movement.

The late mayor of Dhaka North City, Annisul Huq, took steps to bring the truck stand under proper management, which led to some improvement. However, the area has gradually reverted to its previous state since Huq's death.

Md Hasanul Kabir, joint general secretary of the Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Owners' Association, told The Business Standard that a truck terminal in Tejgaon has been a long-standing demand of the association. 

He said that the construction of a multi-story truck terminal is promising news for truck owners and that the city corporation has already informed them about the land acquisition. 

Kabir added that the new terminal will eliminate truck-caused traffic jams, provide safe parking facilities for trucks that bring goods from outside Dhaka, and give drivers and co-drivers a place to rest.