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Old 10th June 2011, 22:28   #31
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

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Originally Posted by souravc View Post

@RS DEL - most of the time the land acquired is more than that is required and more often than not the land acquisition is done at throwaway prices (and not inflated prices) and handed over to the infrastructure companies ( who are hand in glove with the crooks ) Every BOOT operates on an IRR model based on cost estimates which are anyways horribly inflated through cost escalation clauses to extract concessions from the govt and by greasing a few palms the same is achieved . There is a clearly defined construction period road tax, toll and still pay for the damaged suspensions

*OT I am very happy to see so many VIPs behind bars , its not yet time to give up on India
Forgive me for being so dense. Since more land than needed is being acquired and that too at prices which you describe as throw away, the quid pro quo then is in the form of kick backs in cash/kind-benami ownership in the Infra outfits which is then monetised when they go public?
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Old 10th June 2011, 22:37   #32
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

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Originally Posted by RS_DEL View Post
Forgive me for being so dense. Since more land than needed is being acquired and that too at prices which you describe as throw away, the quid pro quo then is in the form of kick backs in cash/kind-benami ownership in the Infra outfits which is then monetised when they go public?
Absolutely right . The trick is that the infra outfits needn't even go public - selling an office building here at throwaway prices, gifting a few flats there, extending a very long term loan to a company controlled by the handshake guy are some of the very simple ways of kickback.

Given below is an example of monetisation
check out the corporates involved in the promoter group with Jagan Reddy (hope you remember him )
France
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Old 11th June 2011, 12:10   #33
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

Happened to see this thread at the apt time,in Kochi protests are brewing against Charging toll on Aroor-Edapally stretch of NH47 which started yesterday

The sight from TV channels is locals have taken control of Toll booth and allowing motorists to pass without paying.The demand of protesters is to exempt the locals in nearby panchayats from paying the heavy toll

More news

Kochi: Protest against Aroor-Edapally toll
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Old 21st October 2011, 16:32   #34
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Next Big Scam

Highway Robbery

Looks like this will be the next biggest scam coming out

Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine
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Old 21st October 2011, 23:14   #35
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

seagull
hi
An eye opener piece.
Hope something comes out of it.
incidentally a few days back one of the questions asked on kaun banega crorepati:
who is the richest politician correct answer Kamal Nath
rgds
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Old 2nd November 2011, 20:30   #36
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

Hi everybody
The concept of toll was mooted to give us world class roads and as we were supposed to save on fuel we had to pay for it.The ground realities are different.The roads are nowhere near world class except for some good stretches(You cant call a road world class if 50 kms are good and then you have 3 kms of bad roads.what you saved in terms of fuel and time on the 50 km you spent more than that on the 3.)Interestingly one point of about government reasoning: the moment you have something good you must pay for it.It is not your right to have good roads.On an aside Bill Clinton quote: It is not that the roads are great here because USA is rich but USA is rich because its roads are great.
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Old 2nd November 2011, 21:57   #37
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

The icing on the cake, or should that be called a day-light robbery is the story of a toll increase in South India. The NH from Bangalore to Chennai passes through the TN industrial town of Hosur and Krishnagiri. Till June this year, the toll used be INR 25 one way. But then the fee was raised to INR 60. The reason being cited, the 4 lane stretch is being converted to 6 lanes, by Reliance infra. As a part of getting 'funds' to enhance the infrastructure, the current toll charges have been more than doubled. The 6-laning is expected to be completed in 2013. So, how should we call this? We pay upfront for a service which is expected two years later and what stops them increasing when the 6-lanes becomes functional and call it as a additional infrastructure cost? The company will collect 'upfront' the cost of 6-laning for two years of toll and will then 'manage' stretch with the 'toll collected for use' for the next 15-20 odd years and rake in more moolah. Isnt this even worse?
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Old 3rd November 2011, 10:03   #38
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

Well Vashi creek bridge has been there for atleast 10+ years now. Every car coming to Mumbai pays a toll of 30Rs. That bridge must have been paid for by now.
Sheel Phata while going from Panvel to Kalyan, one of the worst roads in India. Potholes must be about a foot deep. And we have to pay toll for that...
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Old 3rd November 2011, 11:26   #39
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

Is there any specific reason why some tolls doesn't give two-way tickets(return on same day) with discounted price. Ex: In NICE road - Bangalore, they give only one way ticket and for return on the same day you will have to take one more ticket.
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Old 3rd November 2011, 11:56   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arun_josie
Is there any specific reason why some tolls doesn't give two-way tickets(return on same day) with discounted price. Ex: In NICE road - Bangalore, they give only one way ticket and for return on the same day you will have to take one more ticket.

I talked with a Nice road admin officer regarding two way toll and he said it was done to increase the revenue.because two way tolls are inherently cheaper and buying one way toll twice. So they are doing this to fill their cash coffers . This was some two years ago .I am sure they would have recovered all the costs of road construction by now!!!
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Old 3rd November 2011, 12:24   #41
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

Its not ethical but its illegal as well. Rule says if road is not complete more than 98% of the total work, you cant charge toll. Still many places keep looting people by collecting crores of rupees as a toll from poor people like us.

I dont mind paying toll for a really good road, but why should i pay toll which dont has any facilities like express way? Pune - Nagar highway is same. Lot of work is still remaining, quality is poor, no bridges to bypass villages on the highway, traffic jams, long ques on toll booths and you still pay hefty toll.

One query here, now a days you need to pay toll on all highways from Pune like Nagar Road, Mumbai Road (both express & old), Kolhapur road, even pirangut road which is in the city etc. Is it legal as we dont have any other road which dont has toll? We have to pay toll & suffer as we dont have choice :(
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Old 3rd November 2011, 14:00   #42
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

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Originally Posted by sagarpadaki View Post
I talked with a Nice road admin officer regarding two way toll and he said it was done to increase the revenue.because two way tolls are inherently cheaper and buying one way toll twice. So they are doing this to fill their cash coffers . This was some two years ago .I am sure they would have recovered all the costs of road construction by now!!!
This is not fair at all. They want more collection but they are yet to complete the Bannerghatta Road - NICE road Junction flyover which is causing traffic during the peak hours. Not sure if there is any other toll booth with just a one-way collection.
Any idea on what the rule book says on the two-way collection.
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Old 4th November 2011, 00:36   #43
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

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Originally Posted by vikrantj View Post
Well Vashi creek bridge has been there for atleast 10+ years now. Every car coming to Mumbai pays a toll of 30Rs. That bridge must have been paid for by now.
Sheel Phata while going from Panvel to Kalyan, one of the worst roads in India. Potholes must be about a foot deep. And we have to pay toll for that...
VikrantJ
Hi Vashi bridge was opened around 1976 and the users have been paying toll since then.
An eyeopener as to how the official loot takes place.
Incidentally the first bridge lasted just 20 years and they had to build the second(current)bridge.The golden bridge at Bharuch is still going strong after 130 years.
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Old 16th November 2011, 13:22   #44
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

Seems someone took a cue from this thread

Link from Today's TOI:

Toll charges likely to be slashed on under-construction highways - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The highways ministry is likely to reduce toll charges on stretches that will be widened from four to six lanes, or from two to four lanes. Sources said the ministry is considering three options to give toll relief to commuters since during expansion the service worsens, making it hazardous to use these stretches.

A senior ministry official said a proposal was mooted to find a solution after several complaints were received about poor condition of roads under maintenance and expansion. MPs too have drawn the ministry and the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) attention to the problems, he added.

The first proposal is to reduce the user fee by 60% of the total toll charge for projects that will be widened from four to six lanes.

Now, a project developer starts collecting toll from the date NHAI issues the letter of appointment (LoA), and the charge goes up immediately. The developer starts the work after the LoA is issued, and the charge increases significantly on these stretches since the government revised its toll policy last year.

"If we reduce the toll charge by 40%, it will be a major relief for road users who face congestion and loss of precious time. In case of expansion, the old toll rate should continue until the work is completed," said an official. They are also suggesting that the NHAI could go for indexing of the toll during the construction phase. This means the prevailing toll rate can be raised based on the change in wholesale price index (WPI). Officials clarified that all the proposals are awaiting approval. Once the nod comes through, new conditions will be applicable to projects with retrospective effect since the present ones are awarded as per prevailing norms. "This is a welcome sign. We have been campaigning that the toll charge should be suspended even on stretches, where the developers have failed to meet deadlines," said S P Singh of IRTFT, which have been persistently raising the issue with the ministry. A developer doesn't get docked for missing deadlines since it starts collecting toll from the day the project starts.

Ironically, about a year earlier, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on highways had turned down the proposal to stop collecting toll or reducing it by 50% during the construction phase, which takes at least three years. EGoM had observed that such a move would make projects unviable for private developers.
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Old 20th December 2011, 11:50   #45
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

I think we need a little bit more local involvement in managing the tolls and the pricing. I know the MLA/MP is our local representative, but we all know how that works.

But where the locals work together, things are a lot more effective

The Hindu : Cities / Kochi : Toll collection on highway suspended
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