Faridabad toll plazas on the Faridabad-Gurugram road will continue collecting user fees after the existing concession period ended in June, with Haryana’s Public Works Department restarting the tender process to appoint a new collection agency. The new operator may take charge from next month, according to a report by Live Hindustan – NCR.
The four toll plazas are located at Bandhwari, Kesher Zone, Pali and Pakhal. The road is used daily by more than one lakh employees, traders, industrial workers, goods vehicles and other motorists travelling between Faridabad, Gurugram, mining areas and industrial zones, the report said.
The continuation of toll collection means vehicle owners who had expected the charges to end after the concession period will continue to pay for journeys on the road. The report said the four plazas generate collections running into crores of rupees each day because of the volume of light and heavy vehicles using the corridor.
The PWD has begun a fresh tender process to select agencies for operating the plazas and collecting the fees. The process was confirmed by Charandeep Rana, an executive engineer with the department, who said the search for new agencies had started and tenders had been issued for toll-plaza operations and fee collection.
Under the rules reported for the plazas, a vehicle that has paid once can pass again on the same toll road without paying a second time. A vehicle that exits the toll road and re-enters it will have to pay again. Vehicles making more than one trip in a day can obtain a pass by paying 1.5 times the single-journey fee. Commercial vehicles will also have an option for a same-day return journey.
Monthly passes will be priced at 30 times the single-journey fee for commercial vehicles and 20 times the fee for other vehicles. The reported rates are Rs 40 per trip for cars, jeeps, pickup vans, three-wheelers and station wagons. Buses will be charged Rs 170, while light commercial vehicles and light trucks will pay Rs 140.
Trucks with up to 10 tyres will pay Rs 300 per trip. Multi-axle vehicles with more than 10 tyres, along with cranes, bulldozers, earthmoving equipment and road rollers, will be charged Rs 350. Tractor-trolleys carrying mining and construction material will pay Rs 80.
The rates will directly affect freight movement linked to Faridabad’s crusher zones, construction activity and industrial areas. The reported exemptions include two-wheelers, tractor-trolleys carrying agricultural produce, Army vehicles, ambulances, hearses, police vehicles and fire engines. Non-commercial vehicles have also been listed as exempt from toll collection in the report.
The PWD’s tender process is the next formal step before a new agency can begin collection. The department has not, in the supplied report, indicated that toll collection will be discontinued after the fresh contract period.
