The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has told the Madras High Court that collection of toll on national highways cannot be stopped

Authority tells HC that it is entitled to continue collection till recovery of capital cost

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has told the Madras High Court that collection of toll on national highways cannot be stopped on expiry of agreements entered with private concessionaires on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The authority claimed that it was entitled to continue the collection till full recovery of the capital cost of individual projects, even if it takes more than three decades to do so.

In a counter affidavit filed before Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha on Monday, the NHAI listed several components for determining the capital cost of a project and said, “The initially estimated year of capital recovery period or payback period of investment is always traumatised by unpredictable forces like rate of inflation, change in rate of interest, change in pattern of traffic, alternative options, emerging technology etc.”