Govt to rewrite toll collection rights for road developers

* Developers may not get to collect toll before project completion

Developers involved in widening four-lane roads to six lane may have to wait till the completion of the projects before collecting toll. The road transport ministry is planning to rewrite the Model Concession Agreement (MCA) that allows them to collect toll.

According to us,allowing a developer involved in the widening of four-lane to six-lane road projects is a flaw that is in the MCA. We are planning to come up with a new one that will address this issue. We also have the mandate of a Parliamentary panel,which,last month,asked us to come up with our own MCA for any such move, said a senior road transport ministry official.

The official explained that they would also review other MCAs if a need in the future.

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A new MCA on this issue would mean that the developers in the four to six laning of road projects will not get access to toll revenues till the construction of the widening work is complete. Completion of such widening projects normally takes three years.

Currently,a developer in the four to six lane project gets the right to collect toll from the first day itself.

In other projects,however,the road developing company has to complete construction of the road project and gets the right to collect toll only after they get a commercial operation date certificate.

Road developers,on the other hand,feel that the right to collect toll does not come for free and the prospective toll revenue collection is factored into the over all cost of the project.

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The road ministrys plan for a new MCA arose after a Parliamentary panel termed concession agreements by Planning Commission as impediments to the road sector.

Earlier in May,the parliamentary panel on road transport and highways and tourism headed by CPM MP Sitaram Yechury had said the concession agreement prepared by Planning Commission was an impediment in award of projects since such agreements do not allow flexibility to accommodate local conditions.

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