The incomplete Lucknow Ring Road, an incomplete bridge over the Ganga in Bihar and high toll for heavy vehicles — these are the reasons why Uttar Pradesh’s longest Purvanchal Expressway is not getting even half the traffic envisaged.
The agency given the job to collect toll on the 342-km long Expressway from May 1 has now quit, citing collection of just 45% of the target toll as projected for the road. The showpiece Expressway from Lucknow to Ghazipur was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last November and toll was levied on the Expressway from May 1, with an envisaged target of nearly Rs 65 lakh daily.
Against a target of toll collection of nearly Rs 17 crore between May 1 and 26, the agency collected less than Rs 7.5 crore, as per minutes of the board meeting of UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) on June 8.
The minutes, reviewed by News18, cite three reasons for the toll collection falling way short.
“Due to non-completion of the Lucknow Outer Ring Road, the traffic coming from Delhi-NCR via Yamuna Expressway and Agra-Lucknow Expressway is not able to smoothly go to Purvanchal Expressway and hence vehicles are using other roads. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has informed this Ring Road will be ready by December 2022,” the minutes say.
The second reason cited is an incomplete bridge on Ganga in Buxar, Bihar, which is why traffic from Bihar to UP and vice-versa is not using the Purvanchal Expressway.
The NHAI has said this bridge will be ready by December 2022. The Expressway was expected to connect UP and Bihar.
“The traffic on Purvanchal Expressway is less than the Agra-Lucknow Expressway,” the minutes of the board meeting further say.
It was also flagged that toll for heavy vehicles on Purvanchal Expressway is almost 20% more than the toll levied by NHAI on National Highways, hence heavy vehicles are using competing national highways rather than the Expressway.
“Making the toll for heavy vehicles on Purvanchal Expressway at par with NHAI will increase collections,” the minutes say.
TOLLING AGENCY QUITS
The tolling agency, Prakash Asphaltings and Toll Highways (India) Ltd, has written to the UP government asking for a pre-mature termination of the contract, citing a clause, whereby it has committed an error in assessing the realisable user fee on the Purvanchal Expressway, and has expressed its willingness for 25% of the performance security furnished by it to be forfeited by the government.
The UPEIDA Board on June 8 recommended the termination of the contract and a new process be started for the selection of a new tolling agency.
Till a new agency starts the job, the existing agency would continue to do the job, as per the contract clause.
Light motor vehicles such as cars pay Rs 675 as toll tax on the Purvanchal Expressway, light commercial vehicles pay Rs 1,065, while heavy vehicles have to pay Rs 2,145 as toll tax on the road.
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