On Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road: SHC orders reduction in toll tax

Commuters residing within five kilometers proximity of road’s entry points exempted from paying toll tax

HYDERABAD: After a protracted socio-political campaign that continued sporadically since 2010 against payment of toll tax on the 67-kilometre (km) Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road, the judiciary has finally put an end to the controversy. The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered a reduction in the toll tax and exemption of commuters residing within five kilometres proximity of the road’s entry points.

The construction of two bypass roads in Tando Jam, a rural town in Hyderabad district, and Tando Allahyar district has also been ordered. This dual carriageway is a public-private project between a South Korean firm, Deokjae Construction Company, and the government of Sindh on a public-private partnership basis.



“In other words, the displeasure of some [commuters] is being used to compel commuters of short distances to pay toll tax, fixed for whole use of the road,” the bench of Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Muhammad Iqbal Mahar, which has reserved the order last month, observed in the order that was issued on January 17.



The order came in six separate petitions filed by the residents of Tando Jam town and Tando Allahyar district.

The company claimed the project’s length was 67km. However, only 58.7km of the road has been built. “ … [the] road in question is not continuing through Tando Allahyar and not completed through Tando Jam town,” observed the court. “Thus users are compelled to use the Tando Allahyar Bypass [an old road built by the Sindh government] and have to go through [an] already incomplete road passing through Tando Jam … which also raises a question over the claim of unbroken express road from Mirpurkhas to Hyderabad.”

The bench also noted that the road users are being charged full toll for 67km without having been provided a ‘complete express road’. A three- to four-km stretch passing through Tando Jam, a rural town in Hyderabad, and a five- to six-km stretch passing through Tando Allahyar district were never built. “We have no hesitation in concluding that without completing the project the concessionaire cannot legally claim such toll amount, which stood revised while ignoring the said fact.”



The court ordered that the bypass roads in Tando Jam and Tando Allahyar should be built under the project within three months.

In December, 2009, the toll tax of Rs20 was fixed for cars and jeeps, Rs50 for trucks, Rs60 for coasters, Rs75 for trailers and Rs100 for buses, with the company estimating a toll collection of Rs421,850 per day. In the following six years, the tax was more than doubled but the company showed a marginal increase of Rs21,893 in the per day earnings, the court observed.

The bench ordered the company to restore 2009’s tax rates until they complete the remaining project, asking the provincial govt to notify old rates within a week. “However, on completion of the road and providing of complete facilities, the concessionaire, [Sindh government] and the toll review committee … [can] notify … fresh toll rates,” read the order.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2017.