Transit along new NH-66 bypass road to get costlier

Thiruvananthapuram: The transit along the new national highway (NH) 66 bypass road will get costlier from this week onwards as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to start

toll

collection.

The toll collection will most likely commence from Wednesday, NHAI officials here have said. The tolls will be collected at the

plaza

that has been set up near

Thiruvallom

.

The NHAI has also released the tariff for various categories of vehicles. As per the tariff, the fee for light motor vehicles (car, jeep and van) is Rs 70 for one-way trip and Rs 105 for two-way journey, if the return trip is on the same day. Regular commuters can avail a monthly pass for a fee of Rs 2,305. As many as 50 journeys can be done using this pass in a month.

For people residing within 20km radius of the toll plaza, the cost of monthly pass is Rs 285.

For light commercial vehicles, light goods vehicles and mini buses, the rates are Rs 110 (one-way trip), Rs 170 (two-way) and Rs 3,725 (monthly pass). For buses and trucks with up to two axles, the rates are Rs 235, Rs 350 and Rs 7,805, respectively. Two-wheelers and auto rickshaws are exempted from the toll.

The fees announced are on the higher side compared to other toll plazas in the state, which are likely to cause protests from road users. Advocate Paraniyam Devakumar, the patron of federation of residents’ associations, Thiruvananthapuram, (FRAT) said that levying a fee of Rs 70 for cars was very unfair.

“Cars are no longer a luxury vehicle. Even middle class people use cars as their preferred transport mode these days, especially during this pandemic era when public transport modes are deemed unsafe,” Devakumar said.

He added that though the fee for local residents were lesser, this too was unfair. Residents must be given exemption from paying the toll as most people were affected by financial crisis owing to the lockdowns induced by the pandemic, Devakumar added.

Meanwhile, NHAI officials here said that they did not have any other option. This fee structure had to be followed if the capital cost investment had to be recovered.

“We have incurred an expenditure of over Rs 1,000 crore just for the 26-km of the NH stretch from Kazhakkoottam to Mukkola. This includes construction of the highway and related structures, including service roads, elevated highways, drainage lanes, foot over bridges and culverts. The fees are fixed based on the total expenditure,” said a senior officer with NHAI.

The work of the second phase of the NH stretch from Mukkola to Karode (16.2km) and an elevated highway at Kazhakkoottam are currently going on.