Users of the Outer Ring Road between Patancheru and Shamirpet will not have to pay any toll charges, at least for the next few months. The 35.60 km stretch with a temporary diversion at Kandlakoya was opened for traffic in the first week of December 2012.
The efforts of the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) at finalising an agency to collect the user fee have failed as none came forward to take up the task.
Tolling has been proposed on this stretch at the six interchanges of Patancheru, Sultanpur, Dundigal, Kandlakoya, Medchal and Shamirpet.
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The initial bid invitation notice was floated by the HGCL with the last date for submission of tenders being December 24, 2012.
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When it failed to elicit a response from any of the agencies involved in collection of user fee, the deadline was extended to January 4. Still, no bids were filed.
The period allowed for toll collection happens to be till March 2014 and the short span available to recover investments could be a factor in not getting even a single bid, an official said.
“It is a very short tenure for a successful bidder to set up required paraphernalia, initiate tolling and recover his investment.
Perhaps that is the reason why even interested agencies are staying away,” he said. The traffic volume has not yet picked on the recently opened stretch and the same could be another factor. “Once the traffic volumes grow, interested agencies might come forward to take up the job,” said another official. The HGCL has decided to wait for some time and call for a fresh round of tenders when the traffic volumes pick up.