Gurgaon e-way revenues up Rs 60 lakh a month says NHAI
October 29, 2013
Abhinav Garg & Dipak K Dash, TNN |
“The operator is receiving money but not accounting (it). We found that the handheld devices with which they collect toll during peak hours are not connected to the main server for escrow accounts. Same is the case with extra toll booths they set up. This money was not accounted for,” senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, representing NHAI, claimed before Justice Manmohan Singh.
Sethi said once the survey findings were filed in HC and a show cause notice on underreporting of traffic issued to the private operator,Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd (DGSCL), “our revenue for September, collected in October, increased by Rs 60 lakh.”
The KPMG survey, which has been refuted by DGSCL, had claimed underreporting of vehicles causing a daily revenue leakage to the tune of Rs 15.58 lakh during August 2012 and July 2013.
When Justice Singh asked if the authority was open to “finding a cure” to the dispute if, for arguments sake, the operator was willing to refund the amount allegedly siphoned, Sethi replied in the negative. “All that is now history. We can’t repose our faith in the operator. We have learnt from our mistakes,” the counsel said, making it clear that NHAI was not interested in a settlement with the firm.
On being further prodded by the court, the counsel claimed despite interventions by various authorities, commuters continue to suffer as DGSCL has not implemented reforms nor is it trying to improve traffic flow. Answering the court’s apprehension on the future of the toll plaza if it sanctions termination of the contract, NHAI indicated it will operate it till it finds a suitable replacement. The court will hear DGSCL’s defence on Friday.
“We have strongly refuted the KPMG survey findings and would take this up in the court as well in the next hearing,” the DGSCL spokesperson said. “The survey was done manually which is prone to human error and did not employ scientific and automated vehicle classification and counting (AVCC) system as stipulated in the concession agreement and neither did it correctly account for exemptions and run-throughs of traffic.”
Regarding the variation of toll revenues across months, the spokesperson said traffic volumes and revenues in the festive months of September and October were always higher than the holiday and monsoon months of July and August.
Expressway operator gave wrong figures, NHAI tells court
October 29, 2013
Aneesha Mathur : New Delhi,
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that the concessionaire of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway had misrepresented the revenue collection from the toll booths.
“My fingers have been burned,” Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, who is representing NHAI, said, while telling the court that his client had asked KPMG in July to carry out an independent verification of the daily traffic and toll booth collections, after “developing apprehensions that the concessionaire was misreporting collections”.
NHAI had issued a showcause notice to the concessionaire, Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL), after the auditor had reported inaccuracies in revenue figures.
During arguments, Sethi also alleged that after the showcause notice was issued, NHAI’s share of revenue from the toll booths had risen from Rs 1.22 crore in August to Rs 1.82 crore in September. “The revenue share for the NHAI jumped by 60 lakh,” Sethi said.
The NHAI had filed a criminal complaint against D S Constructions, DGSCL’s parent company, earlier this month, accusing the concessionaire of cheating and causing wrongful loss by under-reporting traffic at the 32-lane toll plaza.
Sethi also argued that despite an agreement between NHAI and D S Constructions, the concessionaire had refused to let NHAI staff man the booths.
Contending that the concessionaire should be “substituted with another eligible entity”, Sethi told the bench of Justice Manmohan Singh, “NHAI, as a receiver of the property, will run the toll business, until the time it identifies, evaluates and finalises a substitute concessionaire.”
The HC was hearing arguments on a plea filed by D S Construction against a notice issued to it by NHAI on December 7, 2012, to terminate the concession agreement which permitted the private company to run both the toll booths and the expressway.
NHAI had also accused concessionaire Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL) of fraud, claiming that the company had re-financed the project without NHAI’s approval. The highway authority had also accused DGSCL of failing to improve services at the 32-lane toll plaza.
Source-http://www.indianexpress.com
NHAI moves police against Gurgaon expressway firm
October 7, 2013
Prawesh Lama , Mihir Mishra : New Delhi,
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against the operator of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway — the Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd (DGSCL).A senior government official said a complaint letter had been sent to the EOW. “The complaint was filed after a KPMG audit found the concessionaire under reporting the passenger car units (PCUs) crossing toll plazas by around half,” the official said. The move by NHAI comes in the wake of specific directions from the road transport ministry to file an FIR, by way of a letter dated October 1, 2013, in the wake of the forensic audit report submitted by KPMG.
The ministry is also of the view that terminating the contract with the concessionaire is the only option available and buying back the concession is not an option.
Confirming the receipt of the complaint, Delhi Police said it was in the process of conducting an inquiry. “We need a day or two to look into the allegations. We will find out if the case falls in our jurisdiction. A case will be registered depending on the inquiry,” Dharmendra Kumar, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime), said.
KPMG was asked to carry out a forensic audit of the traffic using the toll plazas at the Gurgaon expressway in December 2011 and it came out with its report in July 2013. The global audit firm conducted a week long, round-the-clock traffic study in July at the Gurgaon toll expressway and found that the concessionaire was underreporting at least 79,000 passenger car units (PCUs) daily.
Based on the calculations, NHAI is estimated to have lost Rs 24 crore in 10 months due to the underreporting.
The DGSCL has contested the traffic numbers presented by KPMG. “It appears that KMPG has not done any traffic count study and only presented figures provided to them by a third party vendor, which is a security services company. Our toll plazas are equipped with the most advanced Automatic Vehicle Classification and Counting (AVCC) systems which is completely computerised and there is no scope for any human error or intervention. We are scrutinising the manual data given to us. Once this data is proven incorrect, we will take strong action against the parties responsible,” a DGSCL spokesperson said.
Source-http://www.indianexpress.com
NH8 toll operator cheats on 16L/day: KPMG survey
September 27, 2013
Dipak K Dash, TNN |
NEW DELHI: KPMG conducted a week long, 24X7 traffic study in July at the Gurgaon toll expressway and has projected on the basis of the sample survey that due to under-reporting of at least 79,000 passenger car units (PCUs) daily by the operator NHAI lost about Rs 24 crore in 10 months. Significantly, tolling was suspended for over a month during this period due to a Punjab and Haryana High Court order.The survey was commissioned by the authority’s vigilance wing after CVC asked for it. Under-reporting of traffic at the toll plaza impacts NHAI’s revenue share. As per the contract norms, revenue from vehicles beyond 1.3 lakh PCUs in a day is shared equally between NHAI and the operator, DGSCL.Though the survey was conducted at all the three toll plazas on the expressway, the authority has first taken up the 32-lane plaza where revenue share is happening. Details emerging from the study show that on July 23, the difference in traffic as reported by DGSCL and that measured by KPMG was 1.57 lakh PCUs. In fact, on that day, DGSCL’s figure was barely half the number given by KPMG.Authority officials said that the average daily traffic during the little over 10 months when tolling happened works out to around 2.55 lakh PCUs while the company kept showing only 1.81 lakh PCUs. The number of vehicles was first manually counted at each toll gate indicating the category of vehicle. NHAI officials said that videography was also done to verify the details. “We will also submit the report in the court to prove our point,” an NHAI official said. A DGSCL spokesperson said, “We have not yet got the report and can only respond once we are able to go through it. The matter is currently being heard by Delhi High Court.”
NHAI officials said the authority lost revenue because of under-reporting of traffic and hence the detection of the major leakage was enough to strengthen its argument that there had been a substantial revenue loss. “This is due to developer’s default in managing the toll plaza. The notice has been sent in continuation of our show cause letter for termination issued on March 8,” an NHAI official said.
In the letter, NHAI had mentioned that since DGSCL did not give details of exempted vehicles, the authority had suspected that the company was diverting toll revenue instead of depositing it in the escrow account and not reporting actual revenues thereby causing loss to public exchequer.
Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Government in favour of buying back Gurgaon expressway project
September 27, 2013
Dipak Kumar Dash, TNN |
NEW DELHI: A day after NHAI wrote to the highway ministry to either buy back the Gurgaon expressway project or hand it over to Haryana government, the ministry said it has always pushed the first option. It wants NHAI to resolve the “contractual dispute” rather than refer the matter to the government.In his letter to NHAI chief R P Singh, highway secretary Vijay Chhibber said Haryana government does not seem to be pursuing its earlier intention of buying out the project. “The only logical option, therefore, before NHAI is to buy back the concession as provided for in the agreement, at the earliest,” he said.
This observation comes after Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had claimed on many occasions to acquire the project and remove toll plazas for public good. None from Haryana government could be reached for a comment. Highways minister Oscar Fernandes was out of city.
Chhibber has also written there is a “prima-facie evidence of criminal liability” in this project and the ministry has initiated the process to refer the case to central agencies – CVC, CBI and enforcement directorate.
In the past there have been several questions on reckless loan provided by public sector banks to project developer DGSCL without even getting NHAI approval. NHAI has also charged the developer of diverting a portion of the loan to its parent company.
Ministry sources said this is a fit case for investigation since there have been several controversies relating to the project and the manner in which stakeholders have go for negotiations in the first place to save country’s one of the first public-private-partnership (PPP) projects and then falling apart.
Never an emergency on express-way?
September 25, 2013
Aditya Dev, TNN |
While agreeing that the concessionaire, Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd (DGSCL), hardly receive any calls on SOS booths and stated that commuters prefer calling in directly on the toll free number and the other two helpline numbers from their mobile phones.
There are 26 DGSCL booths along the expressway.
The booths have remained out of the order for most of the time since its installation on account of vandalism and not being repaired by DGSCL. The Friday visit was no difference. The booths were out of order there was no response from them
.
The RTI applicant, Aseem Takyar, had sought reply from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) about the total number of complaints, requests for SOS service in the last one year. NHAI stated that no complaint, requests were received. The authorities, however, added that more information is being obtained from the concessionaire.
NHAI said through the SOS helpline any service/help can be obtained from the corridor control of the concessionaire. As per the concessionaire agreement, the concessionaire is also required to provide medical room, first aid material in ambulance. There are four ambulances deployed by the concessionaire.
A DGSCL spokesperson said, “In case of any breakdowns or accidents, commuters prefer to call in from their cell phones directly at the toll free numbers that are mentioned along the expressway and on the toll receipt. They can call in at the toll free number 1800-103-1700 or at 9717890175 and 0124-2450800.”
More than a 100 calls are received every day on the toll free number and another 25-30 calls are received on the other two numbers which our corridor control teams respond to speedily, added the spokesperson.
BOX
DGSCL yet to receive NHAI notice
The DGSCL is yet to receive the notice issued by the NHAI regional office issued on Monday. NHAI office issued notice to the concessionaire directing it to immediately take up the road repair work of the expressway and service lanes. A DGSCL spokesperson stated Friday that the concessionaire has not yet received the notice. However, we would be responding to it as soon as we receive it. The maintenance of service roads on the expressway is also part of the matter being heard by the Delhi High Court where the matter is sub judice and would be next heard by the court in July.
BOX
An RTI application was filed seeking information from the NHAI about the total number of complaints/ requests for the SOS service
There are 26 SOS booths along the expressway
The booths are out of the order since its installation on account of vandalism, neglect
Commuters prefer calling in directly on the toll free numbers displayed on the route. There are three numbers 1800-103-1700 or at 9717890175 and 0124-2450800.”
More than 100 calls are received every day on the toll free number
RTI replies unearth more skeletons
September 20, 2013
Siddhartha Rai, Hindustan Times Gurgaon,
Whenever grilled about the success of the cashless tag scheme, the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway concessionaire tends to hide behind the argument that it has always tried to promote the use of the smart tags. But the reality is far removed from the claim.
In 2011, the operator, Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd (DGSCL), imported 73,000 tags from a Vienna-based company. The company had written a letter to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on February 18, 2011, saying, “The import of E-Tags which are part of the toll equipment has been done for use of the commuters of the Delhi-Gurgaon section of National Highway-8 from KM-14.3 to KM-42 and is not intended for any commercial purpose or resale.”
And, here comes the contradiction. “Tags were issued to commuters even before 2011, but at a cost. When the concessionaire has imported the tags under the garb of toll equipment and has declared them to be not for profit, how can it sell them to the people? The tags had to be issued free of cost,” says RTI activist Mahendra Singh whose RTI application elicited the above mentioned information. However, the concessionaire interprets the “not for commercial use” clause in contrast to Singh’s contention.
“As per the arrangement, these tags are to be used internally for the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway project and cannot be resold commercially to any other project. All tags imported by us have been used only on the expressway and no commercial resale has happened. The amount being charged for tags is an administrative fee, whereas for smart cards which we are promoting now are distributed free of cost,” said a DGSCL spokesperson. But the concessionaire also went on record to give contradictory statements.
In a letter to the NHAI, Gurgaon dated December 16, 2008, DGSCL said, “One-time cost of `1,500 will be charged to the users, being the cost of each tag (on a no profit no loss basis).” What started as “not for any commercial purpose or resale” melted down to charging the cost of the tags “on a no profit no loss basis”.
Split toll data erratic
Meanwhile, as per information furnished by the NHAI in response to another RTI application asking for traffic details between January 9, 2013 and January 20, 2013, the split toll plazas —intended to increase the clearance of vehicles at the Sirhaul toll plaza — has ostensibly come a cropper against the claims of DGSCL.
Out of the 12 days considered in the RTI response, for seven days the data showed no vehicles crossing the split plaza from both sides, while on one day there appeared no record of vehicles crossing from Gurgaon to Delhi via the split plaza.
DGSCL claimed that the split toll plazas have regularly been working, but the data have been integrated to the main toll plaza only since August, 2013.
But, as per data furnished by the NHAI, no vehicles on record passed through the split plazas for four days between January 13 and January 16, which exceeds the 2/3-day period for data collation. Figure this: on January 9, nearly 87,000 vehicles passed through the main toll plaza on the Gurgaon-Delhi side, out of which 3,734 used the split toll plaza, but on the next day no vehicle passed through the split plaza even as the total volume passing through the main toll plaza remained the same.
The efficacy of the split toll plazas, if DGSCL’s argument of data bunching for days together is considered, can be gauged from the fact that in five days from January 13 to January 17, only 714 vehicles passed through the split plaza from Gurgaon to Delhi when the volume of total traffic remained between 64,000 and 86,000.
“The split toll plazas mostly do not work as the concessionaire has not got the infrastructure to operate these. The company tries to cut its expenses on manpower, power bills, etc by keeping the split plazas closed,” said Asim Takyar, a Gurgaon-based RTI activist.
Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com
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