Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Feb 6: With the opening up of Thokkottu and Pumpwell flyovers for public use, the people now get to travel easier but the toll charges will soon be hiked, it is learnt. Project director of National Highways Authority of India here, Shishu Mohan, has said that the toll fee collected so far was for the completed stretch of the highway. With the two flyover works having been completed, toll fee will be hiked by including the lengths of these two flyovers, he added. The amount of hike will be decided later.
For highways undertaken under public-private partnership, once road works are completed, total length of the road is taken into account for revising toll fee. Mohan said that people need not have to pay toll charges for incomplete work and that with the work having been completed now, they have to pay additional toll fee, he clarified.
Pumpwell flyover (file photo)
Likewise, it is learnt that Kundapur flyover has not been included in the tollable length at Sastan toll plaza. Once this flyover is completed, fee will be added.
Currently, people of the twin-districts pay toll charges at Talapady, Suratkal, B C Road, Hejamady and Sastan. Soon, a toll plaza will come at Shirur and they will have to pay there too.
Hyderabad-based Navayuga KPCL consortium had undertaken Kundapur-Talapady four-lane highway work costing Rs 674 crore on September 5, 2010 and it was to finish the work by March 5, 2013. Because of financial constraints faced by the company, the work was delayed and project cost has gone up. At the same time, Ircon International Limited that is executing work beyond Kundapur too faced problems and it has also faltered in meeting deadlines a number of times.
As per the conditions, work of designing, engineering, construction, finance, operation, and maintenance will be undertaken by the concerned companies for 25 years during which period they collect toll and maintain the highway, before transferring the roads back to National Highways Authority of India.