No Data On Collections Made By Pvt Firms
In the last 15 years, citizens have shelled out Rs 7,642 crore as toll for roads across the state.
In a first-ever disclosure on toll earnings, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has put up an exhaustive list of projects and toll collections since the policy was implemented in 1999.
The top grosser projects include the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Satara-Kolhapur stretch of National Highway 4 that have collectively added Rs 1,122 crore to the MSRDC coffers till 2005-06. There is no data on toll collections for the last decade as the e-way maintenance was handed over to a private firm. Another big-ticket project is the Bandra-Worli sea link that has within six years of becoming operational earned MSRDC a neat Rs 425 crore. The project was constructed at a cost of around Rs 650 crore.
However, it is road overbridges and flyovers that have earned MSRDC a whopping revenue of Rs 3,169 crore until 2010-11, when the levy was stopped at these locations. There are 128 toll booths currently functional across the state.
While activists may see in these figures the perfect reason to stop toll collections, officials at MSRDC said an investment of Rs 8,000 crore has been made in creating road networks over the years. Analysts too advised against simplistic interpretation of the figures.
G K Deshpande, former PWD secretary and founder of MSRDC in 1996-97, said, “If the investor is expecting 20% of return over his investment, the toll would continue till that amount is achieved. It is wrong to state that if the project cost is recovered, toll should be abolished. Investors or MSRDC take loan from banks, pay interest, maintain the road and conduct repairs regularly .“
He said that the project cost gives only the figure when the road work was planned and the cost might escalate due to increase in cost of raw material.
But the calculation aside, there is much ambiguity in the statistics. Experts and activists have questioned the toll collection statistics considering that MSRDC has not disclosed the amount collected by private agencies. Importantly , the MSRDC has not stated how the toll collection amount was utilized and the infrastructure jointly created with the private firms, they said.
The MSRDC, on its part, has claimed that it raised infrastructure such as flyovers, road over bridges and roads built at a cost of nearly Rs 8,000 crore since its formation in 1996 but admits it does not have the information about the use of toll collection amount.
“At this moment, figures of expenditures and maintenance cost are not available. The MSRDC assigns private companies for the road development work. There are several such companies and we do not have the data of their toll collection,“ said Radheshyam Mopalwar, MSRDC managing director.
Over the past few years, citi zens and political parties have been seeking transparency in toll collection across the state.
Kolhapur residents have vehe mently opposed toll collection at nine entry points in the city citing poor quality work.
The political angle to the toll collection figures is hard to miss. When the Congress-NCP government formed the government for the second successive time in 2009, it collected an upfront amount from road developer compa nies and appointed them for toll collection and mainte nance. The following fiscal of 2010-11 turned out to be the most `fruitful' for MSRDC, which earned Rs 2,503 crore at one go with the decision.
Road development experts said that the toll collection amount should not be simply compared with the project cost as developers would not come forward to execute the work unless there is a proper return on the investment.
Former PWD secretary Deshpande said that each private firm would have submitted their cash flow to the MSRDC or PWD to get the contract. A detailed study of the cash flow could shed light on how much investment was made and how long the toll would be levied.
Realising the anger against toll collection, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had promised to scrap toll collection during the 2014 assembly election campaign. The state government in November 2014 appointed a committee under PWD minister Eknath Shinde to study the contentious toll issue and suggest ways to scrap the levy .
So far, as per the committee's recommendations, the state has waived off toll from 12 roads and exempted small cars from toll at 53 locations from June 1. In June 2014, the government closed 44 toll collection centres.
Anti-toll activist Sanjay Shirodkar said they had been struggling for years to get the data on toll collection. “Successive governments and the MSRDC were not clear about toll collection. No private toll operator provided the MSRDC or the government with toll collection figures. The MSRDC has not provided any audited report of the projects“ he said.
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