Sion-Panvel highway maintenance in limbo

Mumbai: The Sion Panvel Tollways Private Limited (SPTPL), a special purpose vehicle of Essel Infraprojects, the company responsible for the upkeep of Sion-Panvel highway, has withdrawn its services for the stretch.

According to the company, the public works department (PWD), which built the Sion-Panvel highway and had given the contract to SPTPL, has allegedly not paid dues for a year that amount to Rs 689 crore.

The company stated that the inability of the PWD to clear the dues is the main reason for its decision.

The company has said  that it will remove all  toll barriers starting from December 29.

Despite several attempts attempts, the PWD principle secretary Ashish Kumar Singh and PWD minister Chandrakant Patil were unavailable for comment.

The BJP led government had scrapped the toll collection for most categories of vehicles except heavy ones in June 2015, as a result of which the PWD was required to pay compensation to SPTLP at the rate of Rs 4.69 crore per month. “After the toll was exempted, the PWD had agreed that it would pay Rs 4.69 crore on a grant basis. This has not been paid since February 2017 and has badly affected the financial health of the company. So now after 11 months we have decided to hand over the project,” said a spokesperson from SPTPL.

“The PWD has shown no interest in taking over the project despite SPTPL's announcement for an earlier deadline of December 15. The SPTPL would make it a ‘deemed handover’ in case the body concerned does not come forward for the takeover on December 29, the new deadline,” revealed a statement released by the company.

It further stated, “In the eventuality of PWD not coming forward to take over the project on December 29, the company will send a deemed handover letter to PWD and terminate all agencies currently working for O&M (operation and maintenance) of the project.”

The entire project cost was Rs 1,700 crore, with a concession period of 17 years and five months. It was executed by IVRCL Assets and Holdings and Kakade Infrastructure.