Promising a toll-free Maharashtra, public works department (PWD) minister Chandrakantdada Patil said the state government is planning to shut down toll projects which have neared the end of their concession periods. The state is also considering making it mandatory for toll projects which have recovered their costs and returns to close down operations even if their concession period is yet to end.
A concession period means the time-limit in which a road developer can collect toll on the project.
Patil, however, admitted that the promise to do away with toll from Maharashtra would take time considering the huge amount of resources needed to be generated by the cash-strapped government, which is already reeling under an over Rs3 lakh crore debt burden.
Toll projects in Maharashtra have been in the cross-hairs of political parties and activists for irregularities. Some malpractices red-flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) include adoption of unjustified traffic data, charging toll above the prescribed rate, non-consideration of annual rise in traffic, unqualified acceptance of vehicle census data furnished by entrepreneurs, errors in computing toll income and road users being taxed in excess.
"Toll-free Maharashtra is a huge procedure. We will do that but we will first correct the lack of transparency and huge crowding at toll plazas which irks the common man," said Patil. He added that they were planning to ensure collection of toll through the electronic route to speed up vehicle turnover at the toll nakas and added that it would also be mandatory for contractors to put up display boards with details like the concession period, total amount due to be collected and the actual daily collection.
Patil, a RSS functionary and second-term MLA from the Pune graduates constituency, said while Maharashtra had 121 projects (including those executed by the PWD, MSRDC and NHAI) on which toll was levied, they were looking at those which had little time for their concession period to end so that they could be shut down after paying less compensation to developers. Officials have been asked to take information in this regard, he added. The state has already closed down some projects which have completed their concession period.
"There can be no set time-limit for doing away with toll as huge amounts are involved here. If all 121 projects are scrapped, it will not bode well for Maharashtra's present economic condition," he admitted.
This means that if a project, which had a 15-year concession period, manages to recover its costs in 11 years, it will have to shut down toll collection. The state will not give out projects under Rs200 crore on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis on which toll is recovered by concessioners, and will execute such works itself.
The first tolled road in Maharashtra was the Jaisinghpur bypass in Kolhapur in the 1990s. Toll was later extended to roads like the Thane-Bhiwandi bypass and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The issue of non-transparency in toll contracts shot into public consciousness after the Raj Thackeray-led MNS agitated on the issue in 2012.
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