Almost four months after it was inaugurated, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) may finally see vehicles with on-board units (OBUs) zooming through the toll naka. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will be handing over these electronic chips — which are to be stuck inside the vehicles — enabling a non-stop journey on the sea link.
“Within the next two days as many as 5,000 OBUs will be delivered to us by the MSRDC,” said Jayant Mhaiskar, managing director of Mumbai Entry Point Ltd (MEPL), the toll collecting agency. “We are planning to market the OBUs through handouts and other measures. Though the price structure is to be finalised, we are planning to sell it at the rate it was bought from the manufacturer.” The OBUs will initially be sold for about Rs1,300.
The units have been provided by Efkon India Pvt ltd — the company which has also installed close circuit cameras, meteorological censors as well as road censors on the sea link.
According to Pushkar Kulkarni, CEO, Efkon, the OBUs can be made functional as soon as their sale begins. “The set up of censors catching the OBUs is in place. We can activate it within a day,” he said.
However, according to sources MSRDC, the sale of OBUs was delayed because the software has been installed only at the Bandra entry point. “The delay is due to payment issues between the contractor and the company which is fixing the software. However, we are confident to get this resolved in the coming week,” said a source.
Comments