NHAI nod to toll hike for Gurgaon e-way

April 1, 2010

NEW DELHI: From Thursday, commuters using the 27.7 km Delhi-Gurgaon expressway will have to pay Rs 4 more for each trip. The user charge for crossing the 32-lane toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon border will increase by Rs 2, and there will be a similar hike for users crossing the Kherki Dhaula toll plaza. The hike will be steeper for heavy vehicles.

The expressway has three toll plazas and the two major plazas — the 32-lane plaza and the Kherki Dhaula plaza — process around 1.9 lakh vehicles a day.

The revised toll rate, which has been finalized by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), will be notified on Wednesday, said senior officials. On Tuesday, the authority notified the revision of toll rates for 23 four-laned national highway (NH) stretches owned by the government. Sources said that under ideal conditions, revised toll rates should be notified at least a week before they come into effect so that users have prior knowledge of the increase.

In the case of the four-laned NHs, the revised toll fee for 2010-11 has been fixed at 76 paise per km, whereas a commuter using the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway ends up paying Rs 1.6 per km (Rs 45 for a total of 27.7 km). Car users will pay Rs 20 at the 32-lane plaza and Rs 25 at the Kherki Dhaula plaza. Similarly, at the IGI plaza the toll will go up from the current Rs 12 to Rs 13 per trip.

NHAI sources said the toll rate for the two categories of roads is different. ‘‘The expressway is a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT-toll) project and its base toll charge has been fixed on the crossing of every toll plaza, not on a per km basis as is the case with other stretches. People pay more for better facilities and driving comfort,’’ an official said. He added the base toll charge was fixed to make the project financially viable.

Commuters who use the expressway daily, however, disagreed with NHAI’s claim that users pay more for better facilities.

‘‘We pay more for the expressway’s comfort but one can find two and three-wheelers crowding the main carriageway, increasing the risk of accidents. Why can’t the NHAI and the developer fix the problem?’’ asked General Satbir Singh, who often travels to Gurgaon.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com