The project has been envisaged as the vehicle population in the city, which is 22 lakh at present, is likely to double by 2020. Also, 20,000 vehicles come in and go out of the city daily. All these vehicles pass through the city roads to reach the National Highway from Kamrej to Kadodara.

The project will be undertaken on Build, Operate, Own and Transfer (BOOT) basis. There will be no financial burden either on the SMC or the state government. SMC and Surat Urban Development Authority(SUDA) will have to give only right of way to the contractor who builds the facility. He will collect toll from the passing vehicles to recover the cost of the project.

“We need a link way that facilitates people from all sides to go out and enter the city without any interruption. The express link way can help us on this count,” said Jatin Shah, city engineer, SMC.

This express link way would be linked to roads emerging from Rander, Athwa, Puna, Varachha and the Ring Road.

“We are looking at the link road as an extension to the Outer Ring Road,” said Manoj Das, municipal commissioner, Surat.

The road and building department of the state government is studying the feasibility of the project. SMC will make financial provision in its budget for the year 2014-15 only to initiate the process, sources said.

On Monday, large number of people gathered at Zadeshwar toll tax plaza demanding abolishing the tax with immediate affect. They said that the tax collection is badly affecting the traffic movement.

Bharuch MLA Dushyant Patel, who is lead the agitation, asked the toll tax contractor to stop collecting tax till new bridge is constructed on Narmada. Daily commuters and people gathered to protest peacefully. The computer and other accessories from toll counters were removed by the contractor and informed National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials about demand of people.

Several NGOs under the banner of Bharuch Citizen Council also joined movement.

“Large number travelers get stranded on the highway for for hours in massive traffic jam due to toll tax plaza near Zadeshwar. The tax collection period was over in December 2012 and only one track is operational as old Sardar Bridge declared as non operational. Despite there being no need of tax collection, the time limit was extended till March 2014. The toll plaza itself is big obstacle in traffic movement hence it is in the interest of people to remove the same and stop tolll collection,” he said. N K Patel of Bharuch Citizens Council said, “NHAI officials and politicians are not sensitive enough about this burning issue. They don’t care for the people suffering in traffic and this has led to a movement to remove toll tax.”

Irrespective of political parties, we are going to ask for a time-bound program of construction of damaged bridges near Golden Bridge and Sardar bridge.”

The NHAI board, which has members from three different departments and ministries, felt suspension of toll collection would kill the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model for road construction and would also go against “contract conditions”.

The board met on Tuesday to decide on several items relating to highway projects including this case. “NHAI had put the toll suspension proposal to bring relief to commuters during delayed construction phase. But the decision had to be taken by the board. Now the authority will serve notice to the private contractor and if fails to meet the targets, NHAI can take over the project,” said a government official.

In that case, the project will come back to NHAI and it will have the tolling right. Sources said this provision is clearly mentioned in the concession agreement and it should be “implemented”. The authority in its original proposal had pitched for toll suspension citing that even if NHAI charges toll, there will be no relief to road users.

“Since there is huge investment of banks and financial institutions, suspending toll collection will have severe implications on the sector as a whole. After taking over the project, NHAI can pay back the loan,” an official said. He added that NHAI will take up regular maintenance and full development of the project.

Those who favoured this decision felt NHAI could push the pace of construction by putting a large portion of the total toll collection in project work. At present, NHAI gets 52% share of the toll collected. Officials said to pump more funds for faster construction, NHAI can defer taking this revenue share.

Although Tuesday’s decision comes as a blow to commuters using this stretch, in case of future six-laning projects, tolling will be suspended in case developers fail to meet the deadline. This decision was taken recently by the Cabinet.

“Traffic jams are a routine affair. There is no bus stand and buses halt dangerously on the highway. The road is accident-prone,” said Om Prakash, former sarpanch, Manesar village.

When TOI contacted NHAI, a spokesperson said, “We are looking at the feasibility of constructing a flyover at the stretch.”

Points to note

There more 35 thousand people live in Manesar. They are all affected due to the open road without any flyover

On an average two accidents happen on the stretch every month, according to the sources from Gurgaon traffic police

“In our meeting with the state government earlier, we expressed our inability to continue with the original scope of work. We have delinked 17 structures from the project and will take them up later based on availability of land. This will allow us to focus on other portions where land is available and complete them at the earliest ,” a senior official of NHAI said.

The delinking will have its impact on nearly 8-10 km of the stretch where it will have rough patch while the rest of the route can be expected to be smooth. Highlighting the need for taking such a decision, A K Mishra, regional manager of NHAI, said, “Our aim is to provide clear passage to the commuters so that they face minimum inconvenience and enjoy their ride between Jaipur and Delhi. Restructuring will also give us room to carry forward the work in areas where it can be done at the earliest and coming on other portions later.”

The meeting held on Tuesday between officials of the state government and NHAI too resolved down several contentious issues. The state government has allowed the developer to carry out work at Sanjay Van and also agreed to shift two HT lines from the Jaipur bypass.

On the insistence of the state government, NHAI assured to construct the 12 government buildings which will demolished for the project. It also assured of taking up of maintenance work on the diversion if the concessionaire fails to complete it in 60 days of time.

However, nodecision was made on the issue of charging toll tax in the wake of incomplete work on the road.

The matter has been kept in abeyance and will be discussed later.