This story is from October 1, 2016

Cash-strapped HMDA mulls 50% hike in ORR toll charges

Cash-strapped HMDA mulls 50% hike in ORR toll charges
HYDERABAD: Users of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) may have to shell out more bucks with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) proposing to increase toll on the 158-km stretch for all categories of vehicles. The urban authority, facing severe financial crisis for quite some time now, wants to hike the toll charges by 45 to 50 per cent.
For instance, the minimum toll of Rs 10 being collected from cars travelling from Nanakramguda to Shamshabad is expected to go up to Rs 15.
Similarly , heavy vehicles including lorries, which have been paying a minimum of Rs 240, will have to pay Rs 400 if the toll charge is increased. “Proposal for increasing toll fee have been sent to the municipal administration and urban development department recently. Once we get the approval, the new rates will come into effect. The decision has been taken after comparing toll rates at Pune-Mumbai Expressway and Yamuna Expressway with the ORR charges. Our rates are very less to what people pay to use those expressways,“ chief general manager of Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited, B Anand Mohan, told TOI. HMDA has been collecting toll fee from the commuters through private agencies on the completed portions of ORR since 2009. It has been getting Rs 9.2 crore per month of the total collection of Rs 11.60 crore after deducting operational and maintenance costs.
Officials said HMDA spent Rs 6,696 crore on the 158-km ORR, of which Rs 2,439 crore needs to be paid to contractors who built the road under build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) annuity basis. Another Rs 3,558 crore was mopped up through loans from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and other banks. The HMDA needs to repay about Rs 500 crore a year to the financial institutions.
“We are expecting the toll fee collection to go up to around Rs 14 to Rs 15 crore a month after the hike,“ Anand Mohan said. A part of the additional revenue will be used for improving safety measures.
The annual traffic volume on the ORR in 2014 was 62,25,936 and increased to 1.32 crore in 2015. This year so far, it touched 1.30 crore. The HMDA says ORR's traffic volume potential is two crore a year, but this is not happening because heavy vehicles are being allowed into the city through regular routes avoiding the ORR during nights.
Truck drivers instead of taking ORR, prefer city roads primarily to avoid toll. For example, a truck coming from Patancheru takes the Chandanagar, Hafeezpet, Gachibowli, Aramghar to reach Shamshabad, instead of the Patancheru-Shamshabad ORR stretch for which a toll of Rs 400 to Rs 500 is collected. HMDA officials say that this problem persists especially at Shamshabad, Pedda Amberpet, Medchal and Patancheru. As a result, city roads are getting damaged and pollution levels are increasing. Places like Kukatpally and L B Nagar are witnessing traffic chaos even during nights.
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