NICE Road toll hiked after a gap of five years

The toll for the peripheral and link roads that form NICE Road in Bengaluru will go up from July 1 onwards, Nandi Economic Corridor Enterprises Limited said in a statement on Wednesday.

This is the first revision in the toll in five years and was necessitated by the rising expenses, the company said. The toll hike ranges from 10% to 20%.

Stating that while the concession agreement provides for revising the toll every year, the company said it didn’t hike the charges in the last five years considering inflation and the pandemic.

The company also claimed that the toll on NICE Road would continue to be lower than the “actual rates we are entitled to collect under the framework agreement and the toll concession agreement”.

Further, the per-kilometre toll on NICE Road will be lower than that on the Electronics City elevated expressway, it added.

NICE Road is a 111-km-long road connecting Bengaluru and Mysuru. Within Bengaluru, it runs as a semi-peripheral road for 41 kilometres linking Hosur Road to Tumakuru Road via Bannerghatta Road, Kanakapura Road, Mysuru Road and Magadi Road, supplemented by an 8.1-km-long link road.

NICE Road, Electronics City Elevated Expressway and Airport Road are the three tolled thoroughfares in Bengaluru.

Bangalore Elevated Tollway Pvt Limited, which manages the E-City flyover, has also hiked the user fees with effect from July 1. According to NICE Road authorities, their per-kilometre user fee is the “lowest” for light commercial vehicles and trucks among the city’s three tolled roads and the second-lowest for cars/jeeps/vans. The E-City flyover charges the highest toll, NICE Road authorities said.

Nandi Economic Corridor Enterprises Limited is a consortium controlled by Ashok Kheny, a controversial entrepreneur who formed his own party called the Karnataka Makkala Paksha and who was Bidar South MLA from 2013 to 2018.

Many users say the toll is unjustified because parts of the road are full of potholes.