The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA)on Sunday sealed the toll booths at the Mattancherry BOT bridge, bringing an end to toll collection at the State’s first Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) bridge, and to the 13-year long protest against the toll collection.
The GCDA took charge of the bridge at a spirited event as political organisations, trade organisations and West Kochi residents rushed in to witness the action-packed sealing of the booths.
Firecrackers were burst, sweets were distributed and loud cheers, drumbeats and sloganeering came from the crowd as GCDA Chairman N Venugopal walked in to seal the toll booths.
At the brief function, the chairman sealed one of the toll booths, and hoisted a flag on the bridge with the words ‘toll free’ on it. Dominic Presentation MLA and Mayor Tony Chammany sealed the other two booths. The authorities also removed the name of Gammon India from the bridge. Then, the crowd burst into cheers, to the extend that traffic on the bridge got blocked for nearly an hour.
“This is people’s victory. The terms of the agreement and the notification period with Gammon India company have ended. It will be illegal for the authorities to permit the company to collect toll on the bridge as the BOT agreement has expired.
“The GCDA has upheld the law of the land by taking charge of the bridge. Starting tomorrow, we will take care of the maintenance of the bridge, with the help of traders’ organisations and the Chamber of Commerce,” said the chairman.
However, the Cochin Bridge Infrastructure Company Ltd (CBICL), the agency entitled to collect toll on behalf of Gammon India, said that the GCDA had flouted the order of the Arbitral Tribunal.
“The GCDA has overreached the order of the Arbitral Tribunal, and the directive of the Division Bench of the High Court,” said S V Balakrishna Iyer, Counsel for the CBCIL.
Controversial Toll Raj
The BOT bridge, built by Gammon India at a cost of `25.80 crore, and commissioned in 2001, has been creating controversy over allegations of hefty and prolonged toll collection.
In 2001, the agreement between the GCDA and Gammon India was converted from ‘return toll’ to ‘multiple toll’, which spurred protests among the public, especially the bus operators who cried that the decision imposed a heavy cost burden on them. Following the public protests, the then UDF government issued an order on January 25, 2005, to extend the agreement period for additional six years, and to provide `1.5 crore per year as compensation to Gammon during that period.
This order was annulled by the succeeding LDF Government, which issued another order upholding the initial agreement between the GCDA and Gammon India. As per the initial agreement made at the commissioning of the bridge, the toll collection was to be terminated on April 26, 2014. Gammon India went to Court and the case was refereed to an arbitration panel. The company, which said it collected a compensation of `43.94 crore as toll since 2001, reportedly claimed `67 crore as compensation before the arbitration panel.
Reports suggested that the GCDA tried to scale down the compensation to around `30 crore. A petition in this regard is scheduled to come before the High Court on Tuesday. Though toll collection on the bridge has come to and end on Sunday, the bridge will continue to spur controversies. Civic activists have already raised voice against allowing `30 crore as arbitration to the company.
Also, the verdict to decide whether the first BOT experiment of the State was a failure or success is yet to come - a verdict which will influence future projects.