Team-BHP - 44 Toll Plazas in Maharashtra to be shut down

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Originally Posted by iVento (Post 3451872)

Attachment 1248760

There's good news for motorists in Maharashtra as the state government has decided to do away with 44 toll plazas in the state. The announcement was made by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the state assembly on Monday. However, none of these tolls are within Mumbai city limits.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters, "We had tried to formulate a policy before Lok Sabha elections. The PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had announced this as well. Whichever toll is in its final phases and where only little money is left, we are trying to cancel the toll."

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Don't get too excited guy's. Maharashtra government & the people running it are the worst in world. They are doing this just for the coming elections. No major toll has been shut. Also already they have increased the rates of all major tolls in last few months, so they are earning hundreds of crores there already. All shut down are minor ones only & are those which have already recovered money multiple times, which should have closed long back. All the major tolls are as it is, not a single one is closed. Example : Pune - Shirur highway, which has already recovered the money long ago, is still on. The amount they are charging for tolls here in Maharashtra is also very high. For example: Pune - Kolhapur which is 235 Kms only, you have to pay 4 tolls in total & around Rs 250 one way as a toll. That means more than Rs 1 per kilometer, that too for a personal vehicle. For commercial vehicle its too high. That is just ridiculous. The road is 2 lane only & not in great shape at all, in fact worst in some areas. Also you waste too much time in all 4 tolls, which defeats the main purpose of toll road itself.

God only knows when we will get rid of all these tolls. IMHO, government should take a loan and construct all the highways & charge a reasonable toll themselves. It will be a long term profit making business model for the government & with that money they will be able to do whole lot of good things for the state

NH4 section Pune to Satara is the worst tolled road you may face. It is under construction from the time unknown. And night driving in rainy season is the riskiest thing you will do in your life. No white road stripes in middle or side of road. Or divider is not colored. You can not guess when the broken section of road might come in your way. This road has the busiest toll plazas. Forget about other facilities.

I wrote to chief minister and NHAI officials in last year, I got reply that this matter will be looked into and gave some explanation for this situation. But nothing has changed much.

Dehu Satara road is under construction for six laning. Original 4 laning toll was ended in march this year. But they have started collecting 6 laning toll from 4-5 years back. This road is still under construction. Toll collection contract is for 27 years :Shockked:

Originally reliance infra got the contract for six laning which later sub contracted to companies owned by politicians in ruling state Government. Toll collection contract is also with big politician. The same politician sits on dharna against tolls in front of his own toll naka.

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Originally Posted by sushantr5 (Post 3453820)

Here is reply from Project Director NHAI

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NHAI / PIU/ PUNE / Public Griev / 248 January 22nd, 2013

Dear Shri Raut,
sushantr5@gmail.com

1. Concern expressed in your complaint regarding the condition of roads in the State of Maharashtra in general and ongoing six laning of Pune – Satara section of NH4 in particular is praise worthy. Exhortations made in the complaint to improve the quality with respect to Safety and execution have been noted by the Authority.
2. It is intimated that Six Laning of Pune – Satara section of NH4 is being executed on BOT (Toll) mode on DBFOT pattern wherein the Concessionaire is fully responsible for maintenance, management and operation of the Project highway during the currency of Concession Period which is 20 years from 01 Oct 2010 in the present case. The Project is being financed by the Concessionaire with certain obligations to be performed / fulfilled by Concessionaire and Authority. There are a number of complexities involved in execution of project of this magnitude which involves land acquisition, utility shifting, forest diversion and public related demands for additional facilities not envisaged as per their expectations. As per the policy of the Central Government, toll is payable for four laning facility in case of six laning projects during the construction period as well, which was incorporated to reduce the Concession Period as four laning facility is already existing. Provisions have been made in the Concession Period that Concessionaire will maintain the project highway in the same condition as it was existing 7 days prior to the Concession Agreement. However, a number of defaults have occurred on both the sides in fulfillment of laid down obligations relating to land acquisition, utility shifting, forest diversion, cutting of trees within PMC which has affected the finance of Concessionaire as being claimed by them. In fact, the constructional activities are almost stand still for last 8 to 9 months due to financial constraints of the Concessionaire which are primarily due to highly stringent conditions being put forth by Banks / financial institutions in financing road infrastructural works.
3. It is intimated that NHAI has appointed Independent Engineer for carrying out inspection of the Project Highway atleast once in a month. Day to day Supervision is being carried out by M/s PS Toll Road Pvt. Ltd. with M/s Reliance Infrastructure Ltd as its Lead Member being Engineer of the project as per Concession Agreement. Accordingly, complaint received from you was referred to IE for their detailed comments which have since been received.
4. The IE has submitted details of repairs to be carried out by the Concessionaire failing which recommendations have been made for carrying out repair action at the risk and cost of Concessionaire.
5. In view of above, this office would like to inform you that all out efforts as applicable under the ambit of the Concession Agreement are being made so as to ensure desired road surface.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

(Rajesh K. Kaundal)
General Manager (Tech)
Project Director

Copy to: 1. The CGM (Tech), RO, MAH – for info. l.
2. Master File

The project directors comment that -' a number of defaults have occurred on both the sides in fulfillment of laid down obligations relating to land acquisition, utility shifting, forest diversion, cutting of trees within PMC which has affected the finance of Concessionaire as being claimed by them' is correct.

Having dealt with many (over 50 in power, roads and ports) PPP projects for the past 16 years, I can assure the forum that most project developers are constructing projects at lower than the actual project costs. Hence there is no appropriation of economic benefits, which might be the general public perception.

The concept behind PPP projects are:
a) reduce the fiscal deficit (monitising it would increase inflation) under the 'The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003'
b) User to pay as they are the main beneficiaries
c) Private sector efficiency in project execution & operations (Pls understand that delayed project by government burden the citizen by loss of GDP and increase in costs due to inadequate infrastructure)

Unfortunately our country has been fed a staple diet of 'entitlement' without understanding the implications. Hence everyone hankers for 'toll free' without realizing the impact of such demands (imagine the development of Gurgaon w/o the expressway; and the time to travel to Agra before the Taj expressway). The increase in toll over the years is to compensate for the increase in maintenance over 20 years and not to increase the net profits of the developer (detailed analysis of the project cash flows over 20 years for any project will reveal this).

The time has come to realize our folly in believing that there is a 'free lunch' anywhere in the world. In 1947 the social indicators of South Korea were far worse than India. They worked hard rather than hanker for 'freebies' and consequently we are now nowhere in comparison. All developed countries realise that efficient infrastructure comes at a cost to the user but enhances the competitiveness of the economy. In US they have been collecting toll for decades and the condition of their road network is one of the best in the world.

Let's wake up to global economic realities and act accordingly or alternatively just fall back and live in collective misery.

I have been based in Nashik for the past year and have driven 28000km+ in that time, as part of my job :Frustrati . At a glance this shutting down of 44 toll plazas seem great....but here are few observations:-

1. Though tolls are shutting down, some others have tripled their amounts overnight to match cost. Ex: Toll between Nashik-Pimpalgaon 33km was Rs. 45, 1-way; till May 2014, is currently Rs. 124, 1-way, even though there are two unfinished flyovers and 4km of under construction roads.

2. Every time you drive to Chandwad you HAVE TO PAY Rs 115 1-way just 1km before Chandwad, for the next 98km stretch to Dhule....context...Dhule Bypass toll to be discontinued (yeah right!! At Dhule end, which is merely for checking slips from anybody coming from Chandwad [Nasik/Mumbai direction]) but Chandwad toll plaza will still be there. Hence it's just a fake discontinuation YOU STILL PAY TOLL.

3. Some Tolls have a digital display showing project cost, amount collected and deficit remaining. But even after a year [even the financial one] I've not seen any of the amounts change in most of them. Ex: Sogros-Deola toll, Vani-Kalwan toll, Tahrabadh-Sakri toll, etc.

4. One of the most popular religious destinations Shirdi, has HORRIBLE roads [i.e. ensure your spare tyre is good before going bad] from any direction you try to approach it and in all of them you have to pay tolls, but none of them are in the exempt list.

5. Almost forgot stupid: . Whats with the toll plazas giving out chocolates instead of change these days? Is the government going to propose direct goods barter toll....like you can either pay Rs 95 or equivalent in goods at Igatpuri-Nashik [46 km] toll :P

New Toll policy for the Maharashtra govt was announced on Monday and as expected there is no respite for the 5 tolls of Mumbai i.e Vashi Mulund, Dahisar, Airoli & Vashi neither for the Mumbai Pune Expressway.

the key highlights of the policy are:
1) Distance between two tolls on a single road should be more than 45 kms and not less than 25km on adjoining roads
2) All state transport exempted from toll
3) Digitalized counting of vehicles before and after awarding of the toll contract to avoid over toll collection controversy.
4) Every toll should have public toilets, parking zones, drinking water, weighbridges, CCTV and police posts.
5) No privatization & toll recovery for projects less than 200 c
6) People living within 5km of toll will pay discounted rates.. Daily passes to be 2.5 times one way fare, monthly pass to be 50 times one way fare.

Few contrasting facts if the new policy is effected.
1) Distance between Bandra Worli sea link & Dahisar tolls is around 25 kms, between Dahisar & GB Road toll is less than 20Km. So ideally these tolls should not operate
2) None of the tolls provide the basic faclities such as drinking water, weighing bridge, CCTV etc, so will they continue to operate.

There is a proposed toll coming up at Kamothe to recover the Sion Panvel highway costs which if becomes reality will hit the Navi Mumbai commuters real hard as they will have to shell out Rs 60 for vashi toll and Rs 60 for the Kamothe toll.

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Originally Posted by arnabchak (Post 3453697)

We are paying heavy taxes through the nose and then additionally toll payments are not justified.

Allocate from the taxes we pay for infra development that most other developed countries are doing.
Am of the opinion that tolls throughout the country should be abolished and the Govt. should develop sops for infra companies to maintain the roads and give various subsidies.

Also, a portion of the taxes can be directed for the infra development from the taxes we pay to the Govt.

Can you tell me about one significant developed or developing country that:

Has lower income taxes than ours?
Has lower corporate taxes than ours?
Has well developed infrastructure?
Does not collect tolls?

I am quite happy with the level of taxes we have now; driving around an own car should never be cheap in a country like ours with such a massive population. If even 20% of our population owned cars our roads will be totally choked & unsustainable.

For us Singapore model is best, develop a dense network of high quality public transport that a middle class person will happily take for daily / frequent use & use car only for recreational trips.

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Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 3474758)

As per the toll pass guys today morning at Thane, there is no discounts/ exemption for 5 km radius people even now. It is a social media rumour.

Can you provide your source for this?

New toll rates cause Traffic Jams in Mumbai

Source Link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i.../44033868.cms?

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MUMBAI: Lack of information and the resultant confusion over the revised toll rates, which came into effective from Tuesday midnight, led to massive traffic snarls at the five toll plazas as motorists argued with the staffers on Wednesday. What compounded the problem was the rush of people heading out of the city to enjoy the extended weekend-from October 2 to 6.

"Between 9am and 11am, which are peak hours, vehicles were backed up over a 7 km stretch on the Sion-Panvel Highway from Nerul flyover till the Vashi toll plaza as most motorists argued over the revised rates," said police inspector Shirish Pawar of the Vashi traffic unit in-charge.

"We had to convince the toll plaza management to allow 70-80 vehicles to pass without paying the charges as the queues were getting longer and longer. Only then, were we able to ease the traffic movement on the lanes heading towards Mumbai," said police inspector Shirish Pawar of the Vashi traffic unit in-charge.

The snarl left regular commuters coming to Mumbai in a soup. "At Vashi, it took me almost one hour to cross the toll plaza because of bumper-to-bumper traffic," complained Amay Khade, who lives in Navi Mumbai.

Traffic was crawling at Dahisar and Airoli too. Many took to social networking sites to warn about the traffic snarls at the toll booths.

But a Mumbai Entry Points Ltd (MEPL) spokesperson said, "We have deployed adequate additional manpower to handle the toll collection in a swift manner." The spokesperson said they had also made available sufficient quantity of Rs 5 coins and notes to tackle the demand for change. "Toll rates are revised every three years since 2002 as per the decision taken by the government," the spokesperson added.

Toll rates for cars have increased from Rs 30 to Rs 35, and for monthly pass users from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,165.

MEPL has been assigned the contract of collecting toll at the five entry points-Vashi, Airoli, Mulund (Eastern Express Highway), Mulund (LBS Road), and Dahisar-to recover the cost of the construction of flyovers and their maintenance.