NICE eyewash: Small
cut in toll rates
DH NEWS SERVICE
BANGALORE: Succumbing to sustained
and intense pressure from various quar-
ters, the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor
Enterprises (NICE) on Tuesday an-
nounced an 18 to 28 per cent reduction in
toll tariff for the 41 km peripheral road
and the 9.1 km link road under the Ban-
galore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor
(BMIC) project. The revised rates will
come into effect from January 1.
Deccan Herald had highlighted the
disparity in toll rates of NICE with those
in the North through a series of articles.
A comparison with other toll roads in the
country had revealed that a drive on the
BMIC road would be the costliest for a
commuter. Now, with the revised rates,
motorists will still be paying a high toll
in relative terms. There is no relief for
motorcyclists too, who will have to pay
the toll unlike many other toll roads in
the country.
NICE Managing Director Ashok Khe-
ny released the revised rates at a crowd-
ed press conference here on Tuesday. As
per the new rates, the per kilometre
charge will be Rs 1.9 for cars, Rs 5.5 for
buses, Rs 3.65 for trucks, Rs 2.15 for light
carrier vehicles, Rs 3.9 for multi-axle ve-
hicles and 75 paise for two-wheelers.
The existing rates per kilometre are
2.65 for cars, Rs 7 for buses, Rs 4.55 for
trucks, Rs 2.8 for light carrier vehicles Rs
4.9 for multi-axle vehicles and Rs 1 for
two-wheelers.
Kheny contended that the revised
rates were fixed after much calculation,
and should be welcomed by all because
the roads were meant for saving time and
money of the commuters. According to
Kheny, cars would save around four min-
utes and Rs 2.7 per kilometre while
trucks saved six minutes and Rs 8.8 per
kilometre. After the revised rates come
into effect, the saving per kilometre will
be Rs 3.42 for the cars and Rs 9.71 for the
REVISED TOLL RATES FOR
COMPLETED STRETCH OF PRR
Vehicle Current Revised % Reduction
Car 104 78 25
Bus 281 223 20.65
Truck 181 148 18.23
2wheeler 42 30 28.57
trucks. The calculation is based on the
savings of fuel for plying on the jerk-free
BMIC. Kheny confirmed that motorcy-
clists would be given no exemption, and
they were not planning to do so in future
also. “We are giving a concession of 25
per cent in our revised rates for the mo-
torists. That’s all,” said Kheny. He also
refused to give any free passes to locals
who had lost their land and to people liv-
ing in the vicinity of the BMIC road.
“This provision does not exist anywhere
in India and the same cannot be applied
here,” Kheny argued.
Responding to criticism that he had
built a concrete road as had been man-
dated in the terms and conditions of the
Framework Agreement, Kheny said the
statement of building concrete road in-
stead of bitumen road was incorrect. He
said the company had provided over-
passes and underpasses in every 500 me-
tres (on an average) and this would result
in settlement of the earth in and around
these structures. This would have dam-
aged a cement road, as it happened in the
case of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
See also Page 7