Thiruvananthapuram: The national highways authority of India (NHAI) has finally dropped the plan to set up a temporary toll plaza at Thiruvallom.
The decision was taken after NHAI authorities in the state received a directive in this regard from their higher-ups in Delhi.
TOI had earlier reported about NHAI officials here writing to their higher-ups informing them that it would not be financially viable to go ahead with the construction of the temporary toll plaza after its works failed to take off on time.
In the letter forwarded to their higher-ups, NHAI officials here pointed out that the works of the permanent toll plaza will be completed by April or May. This means, even if the temporary plaza was erected now, it would not serve its purpose. It would take an approximate budget of Rs 2 crore to set up the toll plaza by erecting canopies and installing electronic scanners for FASTag. But, with barely three months remaining for the completion of the permanent toll plaza, an estimated amount of only Rs 90 lakh could be collected as toll if the temporary toll plaza is set up now.
The works of both the toll plazas commenced soon after the inauguration of the first reach of Kazhakkoottam–Karode National Highway 66 stretch, which is from Kazhakkoottam to Kovalam, in October last year.
The temporary toll plaza was planned so that NHAI could start collecting toll as the works of the permanent toll plaza progresses. But this plan did not materialize as they could not find contractors to manage the temporary toll plaza. Tenders floated repeatedly ended up not getting any response from bidders.
The presumed reason for the lack of interest from potential bidders is the presence of byroads in the proximity of the toll plaza, which the motorists could use to avoid paying the toll, which would in turn cause huge losses for them. This problem was pointed out by Natpac in a feasibility study they conducted in 2016.
NHAI officials here could not offer an effective solution to this problem. Even though their original plan was to set up the toll plaza at Akkulam, the location was shifted to Thiruvallom following the special request by the state government.