Toll tax should be reduced on delayed projects: Road Secy

Says this will ensure that the project will get constructed in the timeframe that is assigned to it

The toll tax should be reduced on proposed highway projects if they are delayed and there is reduction in quality of roads and also in the available space for the commuters, Road Secretary Vijay Chibber said today.

"We are proposing that the toll rates should be reduced to offset the degradation in the quality of roads, this is for future contracts, you can build it into the contract agreement," Chibber told reporters at the FICCI Infrastructure Summit here.

This will ensure that the project will get constructed in the timeframe that is assigned to it and if the projects are not completed within that timeframe there would be a provision in the contract itself whereby you can reduce the tolling, he said when asked whether the government is proposing scrapping the toll tax on under construction road projects.

Meanwhile, On the Road Ministry's participation in the Infrastructure Debt Fund, Chibber said once the contingent liability part for the National Highways Regulatory Authority is made clear.

"The extent of contingent liabilities is not very clear, if the arrangements can be put in place without involving NHAI as a co-signatory that would be ideal for us," he said.

The first USD 1 billion IDF scheme was launched by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram in June, this year. The fund is aimed at catalysing investments by way of securitised debt instruments of infrastructure projects.

The IDF scheme will mainly undertake investment in debt securities or securitised debt instruments of infrastructure companies, infrastructure capital companies or infrastructure projects, SPV (special purpose vehicle).