The information was revealed after Pune-based activist Sanjay Shirodkar sought details from MSRDC on the sundry debtors/bad debts for 10 years along with the name of the party and the outstanding amount

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is ‘doubtful’ of recovering Rs6.1 crore, of the total outstanding dues of Rs25.4 crore as of 31st March 2012, from toll collection centres, construction companies and other commercial entities, revealed a Right to Information (RTI) application. 

Pune-based RTI activist, Sanjay Shirodkar, sought information from MSRDC on the sundry debtors/bad debts for 10 years along with the name of the party and the outstanding amount.  

According to the RTI reply, of the total pending dues, Rs12.2 crore is by toll companies including Rs4.2 crore which is outstanding for more than six months. Some of them includes Thane Municipal Corporation for the toll station at LBS Road that has a pending dues of more than Rs93 lakh; Jai Bhavani toll station at Fursungi (Pune) has pending dues of about Rs1.07 crore; HB Pandhare, for toll station Ughadi, of Rs21.8 lakh; Balaji Enterprise toll station, at Pune-Jalgoan Road, is yet to pay its dues of around Rs23.8 lakh; while Senhship Construction for its toll station at Nakshatra Wadi (Aurangabad) owes Rs50.5 lakh to MSRDC. These dues are pending for the more than six months and MSRDC is doubtful of the recovery. 

The RTI reply also revealed that more than Rs23 crore is pending from other commercial entities. These includes Rs41 lakh from Adlabs Advertising at Airoli Toll Plaza, Rs63 lakh from Bharti Airtel, Rs4.2 lakh from Power Grid Corporation, Rs59 lakh from Reliance Communication, Rs2 crore from Rajdeep Publicity Pvt Ltd for advertising at Mahim and Rs59 lakh from The Deccan Retreat (Hotel Sanjgaon) among others. The pending dues from the commercial entities also include Rs10.8 crore from sundry debtors. However, no break-up for this was furnished in the RTI copy but MSDRC has mentioned that it is doubtful about the recovery of Rs1.5crore from sundry debtors. 

Speaking to Moneylife Mr Shirodkar said that, “I was wondering that only toll companies are connected to MSRDC, but here I could see lot of individuals as well as commercial parties as well. A recent report suggested that toll companies are earning 4% to 6% higher than their estimates. But the RTI query clearly shows that they are not paying their dues on time”

Moneylife reported that CRISIL Research, in its study of 23 of nearly 100 build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll road projects operational in the country, found that out of these projects, 17 are likely to earn equity returns higher than the typical equity return of 16% that developers target while bidding. Only three of the 23 projects are likely to record equity returns lower than 14%—project-specific factors such as delays and changes in engineering design have escalated the costs of these projects. http://www.moneylife.in/article/toll-companies-earning-4-to-6-higher-than-their-estimates/25987.html