The three municipal corporations are likely to face problems in getting a new contractor for toll tax collection. The bone of contention between contractor and corporations was reduced amount being paid by the former citing decline in entry of vehicles following the imposition of environmental levy as the reason. South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) being the nodal agency for collecting toll taxes has set the ball rolling for hiring new concessionaire. However, in the event of process being delayed the three municipal corporations may suffer losses if the vendors quote lesser amount during the tendering process.
"The last date for SMYR consortium is January 31 and we have started floating the tenders in a bid to get a new bidder for toll tax collection. Court has asked the SMYR consortium to pay us the sanctioned amount till the end of this month," said Radhe Shyam Sharma, Chairman Standing Committee SDMC.
last year, the tender was given to SMYR consortium on a yearly amount of Rs551 crore. It will be noteworthy as to what will be minimum reserve price at which the tender will be passed to the new contractor. As the court has finalised January 31 as the last for the present agency, SDMC is in a tearing hurry to get a new contractor to ensure smooth green tax collection at all 124 entry points of the Capital.
However, Sharma said that the corporation will not settle for anything less than Rs551 crore, that is, the amount SMYR consortium is entitled to pay.
The three corporations had suffered a loss of Rs239 crore last year as toll tax tender was delayed by over a year. No bidder turned up in the first two occasions, due to which the third time bids were invited for appointing the new contractor. This forced the corporation to relax the norms and reduce the minimum reserve price.
leader of Opposition Farhad Suri, in his budget speech for year 2016-17, had said, "The position of our corporation would have improved had we not delayed floating a toll tax tender by over a year. Due to this, three corporations suffered a loss of Rs239 crore last year," he said.
If the corporation faces a delay in getting new bidder this time, it will suffer a bigger loss and affect the green tax collection in the Capital.
Meanwhile, a 24-hour traffic survey conducted by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research at all entry points said the volume of traffic entering Delhi was much more than the number of vehicles from which tax was being collected. According to survey report, the toll tax amount should have been nearly Rs2,146 crore.
The move comes after the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the private contractor to exit its contract with the municipal corporations in Delhi. During the hearing, the Consortium said the imposition of the ECC and the subsequent 100 per cent hike on it had resulted in nearly 35 per cent fall in the vehicles entering the national Capital and had adversely impacted its toll collection and business interest. The apex court, on October 9, 2015, had imposed ECC of Rs700 on light commercial vehicles with two axles and of Rs1,300 on the commercial vehicles with three and four axles. Then by its December 16 order, it had doubled the ECC to be levied on commercial vehicles entering Delhi.