Angul: If everything goes as per plan, a modern bus terminal, which includes shopping-cumoffice complex, mall, hotel and allied infrastructure, will be inaugurated next month. With all the modern facilities, the bus terminal is nearing completion. The dream of the residents to have a modern bus terminal is finally going to see the light of the day after 10 years. The new terminal was planned to be built over 9.72-acre land with an outlay of Rs 56.31 crore.
According to the MoU, the new terminal was constructed over 5.83-acre land at an investment of Rs 13.95 crore while a commercial complex was built on a 3.89 acre land inside the premises with an investment of Rs 42.36 crore. The state government had decided to construct a modern bus terminal in view of the increasing influx of people from near and far, due to the presence of various industries and mines in the district.
Accordingly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the project June 28, 2013. The decision to have a modern bus terminal at Angul along with Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Dhenkanal was taken during a high-level meeting held by the Transport department at Angul July 13, 2011. The department floated the tender for Angul bus terminal and awarded the contract to a private construction firm, Milan Developers and Builders Pvt Ltd.
An MoU was signed between Talcher Angul Meramandali Development Authority and the private firm for the work on a public-private partnership mode. The new bus terminal has a hotel, a market complex, a recreation centre, a waiting hall for passengers, demarcated space for movement of buses — provisions for simultaneous movement of 20 buses — parking lots, toilets, restaurants, cafeterias, shops, kiosks and a public address system.