Road user charge in the offing

Soon, private car owners in Mumbai might have to pay ‘road user charge’, while crossing the Mulund check naka, to begin with. And, if the authorities had their way, the toll would be extended to most new road infrastructure that are coming up in the city.

“If the infrastructure created is for the benefit of car owners, they might as well pay for using it,” said Sanjay Ubale, secretary special projects.

The state government has appointed Mastek as its consultant to study and suggest measures for reducing congestion on the city roads. Mastek, that has already suggested congestion tax for vehicles in London, offered the same idea to reduce traffic congestion on Mumbai’s roads.

“We will not term it congestion tax. It is purely a road user charge levied on those who are benefited by its usage,” said Ubale.

After Mulund check naka the next in the run would be the Bandra Worli Sea Link followed by all the new flyovers and road infrastructure coming up in the city.

“Mumbai has ample of investments being made in projects related to roads, flyovers, sealinks, etc. This addition to the infrastructural development leads to easing of traffic woes. Unlike London where the congestion tax is confined to the Central Business District, road users in Mumbai will have to pay for the improved road system,” Ubale said.

Mastek is currently studying the feasibility of these charges which would be collected electronically from car owners at the Mulund check naka. The feasibility report would be submitted to the state government. A decision will be taken only after a thorough evaluation of the report.

“The entire city needs to be electronically connected to ensure full-proof tax collection. Although, the toll will help earn revenue, it has a lot of constraints which need to be studied before introducing the toll regime,” said Ashank Desai, founder of Mastek.

Nitin Dossa of the Western India Automobile Association expressed said he would not be interested in paying for reaching home. To this Ubale quipped, “Neither would I appreciate paying money for reaching home. But in a wider perspective, this is a system which needs to be introduced at some point of time for making people accountable for what they use.”