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| CAG moots highway toll collection regulator |
| Bs Reporter / New Delhi May 15, 2010, 01:17 IST |
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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has recommended an independent agency to monitor toll collection on national highways (NHs) on alleged leakages.
It has written a letter to the finance ministry on the same.
“On the same road in the same area, two different toll plazas report widely varying toll revenues. Why not have a single, independent toll monitoring agency,” Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai said at a conference, organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), here today.
Currently, in a public-private-partnership (PPP) project, toll is collected by the road developer. In case of government-funded projects, toll is collected by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is done by ex-service personnels.
NHAI plans to award the toll collection job to private parties. On a pilot basis, it awarded the job at 11 toll plazas to private parties and the revenue increased by 23 per cent.
“There have been instances where the estimated traffic projections (of vehicles plying on highways) go haywire,” said Rai.
He added they had asked the government and the Planning Commission to inform the developers taking part in PPP projects that there was likelihood of the road developers’ books being audited.
Meanwhile, JN Singh, member (finance), NHAI, announced that the authority needed to raise Rs 5,000-7,000 crore in 2010-11, Rs 11,000-12,000 crore in 2011-12 and Rs 15,000 crore in 2012-13.
NHAI will require the funds to meet the viability gap funding (VGF) amount that it pays to highway developers. NHAI also bears the cost of land acquisition for PPP projects.
For mobilising funds, apart from 54 EC tax free bonds, the authority will also evaluate options such as external commercial borrowing, according to Singh.
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