8/14/2019 18.12.08.DH.Heavy Toll for Nice drive

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DH NEWS SERVICE

BANGALORE: Already em-broiled in litigation overkey issues involved in theimplementation of the Ban-galore-Mysore Infrastruc-ture Corridor, its promoter,the Nandi Infrastructure

Corridor Enterprise (NICE)on Wednesday delivered ashocker to motorists.

In a quiet move, it an-nounced its decision to col-lect toll from Thursday frommotorists who would be us-ing the 41-km PeripheralRoad and the 9.8-km LinkRoad. The toll will be thehighest in the country and

will be in force until Decem-ber 31 when it can exercisethe option of revising it, atan annual rate of 10 per centincrease.

Now the toll: for cars tak-ing the 7.5-km Hosur Road-Bannerghatta Road stretchof the Peripheral Road, thetoll is Rs 21,while it is muchhigher at Rs 31 for the 9.8-

km Link Road stretch. Thisworks out to Rs 2.83 and Rs3.16 per km, respectively.For bus, the per-km fee willbe Rs 7.57 and 7.95, respec-tively.

In comparison, cars us-ing the 28-km Delhi-Gur-gaon Expressway (that toomostly 8-lane as opposed tothe 4-lane NICE roads) pay a

toll of just 61 paise per kmwhile the buses pay a rea-sonable fee of Rs 1.82 perkm. (See chart).

A quick comparison withthe toll for the 71-km stretch

on the four-lane highwayfrom Makhanpur to Etawah(Uttar Pradesh), notified bythe Ministry of Shipping,Road Transport and High-ways on September 25, 2008,

shows how steep the NICEfees are. For cars, jeeps andvans on the Uttar Pradeshroad, the single entry feewas fixed at Rs 50.

When contacted, NICEspokesman cited the TollConcession Agreementsigned in 2000 to justify theextremely high toll.

The NICE spokespersonasserted that their toll wasnot high at all. It is de-signed in such as mannerthat the users will realisethat money is actually savedconsidering the facilities

and quality of the road.

Govt informed: NICE

The base year for calcula-tion of toll on the NICE roadwas taken as 1998. The

spokesperson said NICEwas allowed a 10 per cent es-calation of the fee everyyear over the previousyears toll. But was the Gov-ernment's clearance soughtfor the escalation or fixingthe rate? We were requiredto inform the Government,and we have done that. It is asimple mathematical for-mula, he said.

Citing the agreementagain, the spokesperson saidthe company was permittedto collect the toll as and whenthe sections were completed.

The toll will be collectedat the exit points instead ofthe entry points. The Pe-ripheral Road has eightsuch interchanges, wherethe toll will be collected.

Unlike other toll roads,where motorists have to paya standard rate from point Ato point B, the fees will becollected only for the stretchtaken. On entry, the mo-torist will be issued a ticketand at the exit point, thelength and rate will be cal-culated, explained thespokesperson.

Once fully completed, thePeripheral Road from its

junction with Hosur Roadtill its intersection withTumkur road will have a to-tal length of 41 kilometres.

The length of the completedsections of the PeripheralRoad ranges from 6.5 km to15.5 km.

The Peripheral Road was

designed to connect the Na-tional Highways 7 and 4passing through BangaloreCity, and link them to theBMIC, which is approxi-mately 111 kilometres.

The Link Road is approx-imately nine kilometreslong, connecting the Ex-pressway to the State High-way 17. The project also has

an Elevated Link Road ofapproximately three kilo-metre length, connectingthe Link Road to downtownBangalore.

The contentious BMICproject was designed as afour-lane road expandableto six lanes in future. Thedesign also took into ac-count the safety of vehicles

travelling at a speed of 120kmph.

Suitable provisions wereto be made for grade sepa-rated interchanges to serveas link for townships.

Heavy toll for NICE driveN O T- S O - N I C E A C O M P A R I S O NComparison of toll fee per km (average in rupees)Section Car Bus Trucks 2-wheelersNICE peripheral road 2.83 7.57 4.90 1.20

four-lane

NICE Link Road 3.16 7.95 5.30 1.30

four-lane

Delhi-Gurgaon 0.61 1.82 1.82 No feeExpressway 6-8 lane

Makhanpur-Etawah 0.70 2.39 2.39 No fee

(UP) four-lane

Fee to be collected from today; govt only informed

BANGALORE

Airport

Hosur RoadExpressway

SH-17

SH-86

NH-721KM

Link road 9.1

KM

Peripheral Rd

41KM

P H A S E I

BIDADI

Toll rates for different section of NICE Peripheral Road (in rupees)Car Bus Truck LCV MAV (per axle) 2-wheeler

Hosur-Bannerghatta Road (7.5km) 21 56 36 22 39 8Bannerghatta-Kanakapura Road (6.5km) 18 48 31 18 33 7Kanakapura Road-Mysore Road (7.5km) 21 58 37 22 41 9

Mysore Road-Magadi Road (8.7km) 25 67 43 26 47 10Magadi Road-Tumkur Road (7 km) 19 52 34 20 37 8Mysore Road-Tumkur Road (15.5km) 44 119 77 46 84 18Link Road (9.8km) 31 78 52 31 65 13