CAG submits report on DND Flyway to SC

• Posted in Infrastructure
• on April 12, 2017
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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has submitted its report on the Delhi-Noida-Delhi Flyway, the road that connects Noida to south Delhi, to the Supreme Court which will decide whether the Rs 25 per entry charge on cars and Rs 12 on two-wheelers should continue.
A senior CAG official said the report was submitted to the SC before the extended deadline ended late last month, but refused to divulge details.
In October last year, the Allahabad High Court had scrapped toll on the DND Flyway, observing that the private company had recovered the construction and maintenance costs besides 20% operating profit long ago. The court found no merit in the private operator’s argument of “under-recovery” of an escalated cost that increased substantially each year as per its “agreement” with the authority.
The SC refused to stay Allahabad HC’s order but asked the CAG to conduct detailed scrutiny of the company’s accounts and review its agreements with the Noida authority that guided the cost and revenue determination.
The auditor has looked into the agreements signed by the private operator and the Noida authority towards construction and maintenance of the toll road.

The CAG, besides its analysis on revenue collection, has looked into other aspects of the project such as long-term maintenance of the flyway to prevent accidents when it becomes a toll-free expressway.
According to the financial statements submitted before the Allahabad HC, the toll bridge company had claimed that it had “recovered Rs 810.18 crore from toll income from the date of commencement of the project till March 31, 2014”.

After deduction of operating and maintenance expenses and income tax, the private operator generated a surplus income of Rs 578.80 crore, according to an affidavit submitted by the company. The HC, before rejecting the plea of the company to continue toll, noted that the operator had earned an additional revenue of Rs 300 crore from toll fee between April 2014 and September 2016. This was in addition to Rs 810 crore toll fee it had earned till 2014.
“We are, therefore, more than satisfied that the concessionaire cannot now recover user fees from commuters of the Noida toll bridge i.e. DND Flyway,” the HC had observed in its judgment of October 26, 2016. LaDainian Tomlinson Authentic Jersey

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