Mumbai's five gateways may become toll-free

Drive in and drive out, the five gateways to Mumbai and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway might become a free way for smaller vehicles.

After closing down 12 toll nakas and exempting smaller vehicles and state transport buses from paying toll at 53 gates from June 1, the state is now examining ways to close down the toll booths at the entry points and the Expressway.

The five entry points to the city are Vashi, Dahisar, Mulund, Airoli and LBS.

"We have set up a committee under additional chief secretary Anand Kulkarni," Public Works Department (PWD) minister Chandrakantdada Patil told dna. "We are examining various options... (like) exempting small vehicles from paying toll," he said.

"The committee will consider both the MEP and the Expressway, but our first targets are the entry points," Patil said. The toll rates for heavy and commercial vehicles would not be hiked, he said.

"We estimate a loss of Rs 425 crore on account of exemptions at the 52 toll nakas. We think the exemption can be extended to MEP as well," said Patil.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had assigned contractors the right to collect toll at these five gateways till November 19, 2026, under the agreement between the two.

If the government annuls the contract, it will have to either compensate the contractors or buy back the projects.

Patil ruled out the buy-back option as "the amount will be huge."

Especially so at the entry points and the expressway, as smaller vehicles constitute 90% traffic here and commercial vehicles form only 10%. At other toll nakas, smaller vehicles constitute only 35%.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has, in the past, said that non-existence of buy-back provisions in major toll projects like the Mumbai Entry Points and Mumbai-Pune Expressway are major legal hurdles.

Such a provision, however, exists for the 11 toll nakas under the PWD's jurisdiction and one under the MSRDC that will be closed down from June 1. The government will buy back these projects.

As far the 53 toll nakas, including the PWD's 27 and MSRDC's 26 are concerned, the government will compensate the toll contractors.

The issue of non-transparency in toll contracts shot into public consciousness after the Raj Thackeray-led MNS protested on the issue in 2012. The outcry forced the government to shut down some projects.

Senior BJP leader and former union minister, late Gopinath Munde, and many other party leaders had promised to make Maharashtra toll-free if the party was elected to power in the state.

But others, like union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari, seen as Munde's adversary in the BJP, had argued that the move would hurt the state's coffers.

The contractors at MEP are also bound to maintain flyovers and allied structures on the corridors like the Western Express Highway, Eastern Express Highway and Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg.

Patil said a different committee was looking into the issue of toll in Kolhapur.