The Times of India 12.10.2010
Toll tax on ORR from Dec
HYDERABAD: Come December, motorists travelling on Outer Ring Road (ORR) will have to cough up toll tax. The proposed toll, which will be based on distance travelled and vehicle, will be between Rs 20 and Rs 150 and it will be collected only at exit points or at interchange points.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has prepared toll tax proposals and sent it to the state government for approval.
Though the 158-kilometre ORR is yet to be fully operational, toll tax would be collected on the 62-km stretch. The HMDA has completed 24 kms of ORR Phase I from Gachibowli to Shamshabad and has thrown it open for traffic. It hopes to open the 38-km (ORR Phase II-A) Shamshabad-Pedda Amberpet stretch by December, 2010.
"The HMDA is contemplating to collect toll tax from motorists for the 62 kms from December. The authority has sent proposals for the government approval which is expected very soon," ORR director and chief general manager (Technical) G Jagannadha Rao told TOI on Tuesday.
Before sending the toll proposals, the authority studied toll taxes being collected by various agencies on state highways and national highways and decided to grade vehicles into five categories.
In the first category, cars, jeeps and vans would be placed and it would attract the lowest toll. Similarly in the second category would be light commercial vehicles like DCMs and mini lorries, buses and trucks in the third category, trucks with 3-5 axles in fourth category and all vehicles with over five axles in the fifth category (high-end tax).
As toll would be collected by an automatic intelligent system, the authority floated global tenders. The tender process would be completed by March 2011. Designs and installation might take another year. As it would take more than a year, the authority has decided to collect toll tax till then manually.
The HMDA had a few months ago proposed to collect toll from vehicles using the 11-km-long PVNR Expressway connecting Mehdipatnam and Aramghar. However, the chief minister reportedly rejected the proposal.
For ORR, the state government has taken a decision to collect toll from vehicles that use the eight-lane-access controlled expressway. A part of the toll collected from vehicle owners/drivers would be used to repay the Rs 3,000-crore loan taken from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for ORR.
