GURUGRAM: Commuters crossing the Kherki Daula may have to wait for another three years before the toll plaza is removed. Expressway concessionaire Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL) has written to NHAI requesting them to extend the agreement by another three years.The request was made even as Huda’s new road in Sector 76, bypassing the toll plaza, is set to become operational soon.“We have asked NHAI to give us a three year-extension from the existing end date in 2023, till 2026. This is needed for the banks which spent Rs 1,081 crore on maintenance of the toll plaza, to recover their investments,” said a senior official of MCEPL.Bankers and NHAI had signed a concessionaire agreement on January 23, 2008. MCEPL, representing the bankers, now claims the new road in Sector 76, bypassing the toll plaza, is a breach of that agreement. Clause 8.2 of the concessionaire agreement states: “In the event NHAI, government of India or government of Haryana, as the case may be, constructs or permits construction of any competing road facility as set forth in Clause 8.2, and the competing road facility is commissioned, then the concession period shall be increased by half the number of years by which such commissioning precedes the expiry of the concession period. For example: If the commissioning of the competing road facility occurs after 10 years from the appointed date, then the concession period shall be increased by five years.”MCEPL wrote a letter to NHAI in April regarding extension of the agreement, after Huda announced its plan to inaugurate the Sector 76 road, enabling commuters to cross the toll plaza without paying toll. “We’re only following rules set forth in the agreement. If the Kherki Daula toll is shut before time, it will cause a huge loss to the concessionaire. With the opening of the new road, we’ll need three years more to compensate for the losses we’ll incur,” added the senior MCEPL official.Huda is building a 5km-long four-lane road on the eastern side of the Delhi-Gurugram expressway to connect the Southern Peripheral Road with NH-8, bypassing the toll plaza at Kherki Daula. The road will be operational soon.In the concessionaire agreement, Clause 8.3 states: “Upon commissioning of the competing road facility, the concessionaire shall continue to levy and collect fees under this agreement and shall not offer any discounts or reductions in such fees, except that any such discounts or reductions that the concessionaire had offered to any general or special class of users or vehicles for a continuous period of three years prior to the commissioning of competing road facility may continue in the same form and manner after the commissioning of such competing road facility.”NHAI refuted receiving MCEPL’s letter. Ashok Sharma, general manager (technical) and project director, NHAI (Gurugram), said, “No such request has been made by MCEPL yet.”

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