Sambalpur, July 18: The plan of the development authorities to build a truck terminal to check haphazard parking of vehicles on highways has hit a roadblock in the absence of suitable land.

In 2011, the Sambalpur Development Authority had adopted a resolution to develop truck terminals here and at Rengali. However, like several other projects these two did not make any headway because of land crunch. Work on several projects also lies stuck owing to the non-availability of land, but in the meantime the civic body became a corporation in 2014.

The lack of suitable government land has emerged as a barrier for several development projects, which includes a vending zone, Tagore Cultural Complex, urban haat and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Tower.

The proposal to create vending zones has also remained a non-starter for the same reason. In 2011, prior to its transformation into a municipal corporation, roadside vendors were evicted from several areas to clear the arterial roads of encroachments.

The vendors were also assured that they would be allotted space to set up their kiosks within the vending zones. There was a proposal to construct vending zones at Jail Chowk, Hirakud Colony, C.S. Colony, Kamli Bazaar, Cheruapara, Farm Road and Modipara. However, these projects never took off and the vendors are back selling wares from where they were evicted.

The fate of the Tagore Cultural Complex followed a similar path. The Union ministry of culture had taken a decision to construct the complex in Sambalpur in 2011 on the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore at an estimated cost of Rs 14 crore, with the Centre funding the project. However, the project made no visible progress because of absence of suitable land. Similarly, Idco's proposal to construct a multi-storied office-cum-commercial complex is also hanging fire due to the land problem.

This apart, an urban haat in Sambalpur is also yet to materialised. The haat was to be established in collaboration with central government's textile and handloom ministry as part of its urban haat scheme. The Idco had also sought the district administration's intervention for land for an art and craft complex in 2009.

It was expected that the problem of land for these projects would be overcome with the formation of a land bank. Though the development authority had decided to identify government land under its area and create a bank to overcome the problem for development projects by March this year, it has yet to make progress in this regard.

When contacted, development authority chairperson Bijaya Mohanty said: "The identification process got delayed as the officer, who was appointed for the purpose, failed to discharge his duties. We will initiate steps to form the land bank at the earliest."