Noida: A lifeline for intercity travel since its inauguration in January 2001, the 9.2km Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) Flyway no longer looks like the showpiece infrastructure project it was built to be.
A pale shadow of its former self, it has met the fate of many an Indian road: patches of rough surfaces and potholes, damaged signboards, defunct streetlights in places, absent road markings at others and garbage collecting along the shoulders.
Noida resident Rakesh Jha, who takes the DND to Delhi regularly, wonders why potholes aren’t filled immediately on a road as important. He said the ride has become bumpier at the Delhi entry of Flyway near the toll plaza and intermittently elsewhere. Jha has also been regularly tweeting about the non-functional toilets and streetlights along the DND.
The state of the DND surprised Avnish Kumar, who lives in Sector 71 (Noida), when he started going to office again after a pandemic-induced work-from-home break. “I have been staying in Noida for 25 years and commuting to and from Delhi, but I’ve never seen the DND Flyway in such a state. Take streetlights, for example. Some are working on the portion between Noida and the old toll shed but as you move further towards Delhi, I find most are unlit. Can’t understand why they not working?” he asked.
Surbhi Chandel, a college student residing in Noida, said a well-lit road would be more reassuring for a two-wheeler rider like her, as would be the presence of an ambulance and a police patrol vehicle, especially at night when traffic moves faster. “Driving on the DND isn’t what it used to be, especially for those like me who take the Flyway during late hours,” said Chandel.
Brajesh Sharma, a resident of Antriksh Golf View 2 in Sector 78, who had submitted a complaint with the Noida Authority about DND’s dysfunctional streetlights, said: “About nine months back, some of the lights were fixed. But many of these are again not functional.” Sharma pointed to billboards and banners that are conspicuous along the entire stretch of the DND. “So, how can one say there is no revenue flowing in? Isn’t the money that is coming going into the maintenance of the road?” he said.
The Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL), which is the custodian of the DND, earns advertising revenue from the ads on the billboards and the gantries along the DND, which is under the jurisdiction of the Noida Authority, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. The Noida Authority has now stopped giving its space to NTBCL due to a disagreement over payment of licence fees and recovery notices. NTBCL did not share details of the revenues it earned from advertisements from the two Delhi corporations.
But problems for the DND began once toll collection from commuters was stopped following directives of the Supreme Court and the Allahabad high court in October 2016.
The DND toll was scrapped by the high court, which heard a petition from FONRWA, a grouping of Noida-based residents’ welfare associations, against the “excessive” user fee that was being charged from commuters (Rs 25, one way for a car) and ruled in its favour.
The financial troubles of its parent company have also affected NTBCL, which is a special purpose vehicle floated by infrastructure giant IL&FS. The DND was conceived to be run under the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model in the concession agreement signed between the Noida Authority, IL&FS and NTBCL in 1997. IL&FS was responsible for all investments in the project and the agreement gave NTBCL control of the DND for 30 years from the contract date, or till IL&FS could recover its entire investment. NTBCL argued it had not been able to recover its cost, but the court, which perused audit reports of its income, rejected that contention.
Not having to pay toll was a relief for commuters but no roadmap was discussed for maintenance of the DND. NP Singh, former president of FONRWA, said that when the court directed that toll collection by the NTBCL will be done away with at the DND, it made no comment on the maintenance of the bridge.
“Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Noida Authority and the Delhi government to carry out maintenance work on the DND Flyway through NTBCL. We will write to both the state governments on the issue,” Singh said. Besides, most key roads need major repairs and a safety audit after 20 years of operations. For the DND, no such exercise has been conducted yet.
Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said problems like potholes, dysfunctional streetlights and broken railings were in the “Delhi portion” of the Flyway. “We had written to our Delhi counterpart to start work on the same. They have started the work on filling up potholes,” she told TOI.
Asked about the lack of maintenance, Maheshwari said NTBCL had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court order stopping toll collection. “The case is still going on in the Supreme Court. The toll bridge company is not doing any work at present. Many notices have been sent. The pothole repair work is currently being done by the local administration,” she said.
In an email response, the NTBCL, however, told TOI that the “operation and maintenance (O&M) obligations of the Noida Toll Bridge (including landscaping, security, cleaning, minor repairs, pothole repair and electrical repair) are being carried out diligently, regularly and efficiently by the company despite the collection of user fee been suspended since October 2016 and the government of UP & Noida defaulting in their obligations under the concession agreement to indemnify the concessionaire on account of change in law and (the) authority unilaterally seeking to negate advertisement revenues of DND and disrupt and interfere with revenues of NTBCL”.
The company claimed that the work was “periodically reviewed by an independent engineer”, jointly appointed under the concession agreement by the lenders, Noida and NTBCL, and the monthly reports were submitted to the Authority. “The October report has already been submitted to the Authority and no complaints or concerns with respect to O&M obligations have been flagged in the report,” it said.
NTBCL said it could not comment on its appeal on the HC judgment and issues relating to undertaking and financing of major maintenance since they were sub judice. “It may be pointed out that despite lack of support from Noida, UP government and Government of NCT Delhi, NTBCL has not delayed or defaulted on any licence fee to EDMC and SDMC, made timely utility and O&M payments, and continues to support the maintenance of the bridge in the timely and efficient manner,” it said.
A pale shadow of its former self, it has met the fate of many an Indian road: patches of rough surfaces and potholes, damaged signboards, defunct streetlights in places, absent road markings at others and garbage collecting along the shoulders.
Noida resident Rakesh Jha, who takes the DND to Delhi regularly, wonders why potholes aren’t filled immediately on a road as important. He said the ride has become bumpier at the Delhi entry of Flyway near the toll plaza and intermittently elsewhere. Jha has also been regularly tweeting about the non-functional toilets and streetlights along the DND.
The state of the DND surprised Avnish Kumar, who lives in Sector 71 (Noida), when he started going to office again after a pandemic-induced work-from-home break. “I have been staying in Noida for 25 years and commuting to and from Delhi, but I’ve never seen the DND Flyway in such a state. Take streetlights, for example. Some are working on the portion between Noida and the old toll shed but as you move further towards Delhi, I find most are unlit. Can’t understand why they not working?” he asked.
Surbhi Chandel, a college student residing in Noida, said a well-lit road would be more reassuring for a two-wheeler rider like her, as would be the presence of an ambulance and a police patrol vehicle, especially at night when traffic moves faster. “Driving on the DND isn’t what it used to be, especially for those like me who take the Flyway during late hours,” said Chandel.
Brajesh Sharma, a resident of Antriksh Golf View 2 in Sector 78, who had submitted a complaint with the Noida Authority about DND’s dysfunctional streetlights, said: “About nine months back, some of the lights were fixed. But many of these are again not functional.” Sharma pointed to billboards and banners that are conspicuous along the entire stretch of the DND. “So, how can one say there is no revenue flowing in? Isn’t the money that is coming going into the maintenance of the road?” he said.
The Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL), which is the custodian of the DND, earns advertising revenue from the ads on the billboards and the gantries along the DND, which is under the jurisdiction of the Noida Authority, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. The Noida Authority has now stopped giving its space to NTBCL due to a disagreement over payment of licence fees and recovery notices. NTBCL did not share details of the revenues it earned from advertisements from the two Delhi corporations.
But problems for the DND began once toll collection from commuters was stopped following directives of the Supreme Court and the Allahabad high court in October 2016.
The DND toll was scrapped by the high court, which heard a petition from FONRWA, a grouping of Noida-based residents’ welfare associations, against the “excessive” user fee that was being charged from commuters (Rs 25, one way for a car) and ruled in its favour.
The financial troubles of its parent company have also affected NTBCL, which is a special purpose vehicle floated by infrastructure giant IL&FS. The DND was conceived to be run under the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model in the concession agreement signed between the Noida Authority, IL&FS and NTBCL in 1997. IL&FS was responsible for all investments in the project and the agreement gave NTBCL control of the DND for 30 years from the contract date, or till IL&FS could recover its entire investment. NTBCL argued it had not been able to recover its cost, but the court, which perused audit reports of its income, rejected that contention.
Not having to pay toll was a relief for commuters but no roadmap was discussed for maintenance of the DND. NP Singh, former president of FONRWA, said that when the court directed that toll collection by the NTBCL will be done away with at the DND, it made no comment on the maintenance of the bridge.
“Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Noida Authority and the Delhi government to carry out maintenance work on the DND Flyway through NTBCL. We will write to both the state governments on the issue,” Singh said. Besides, most key roads need major repairs and a safety audit after 20 years of operations. For the DND, no such exercise has been conducted yet.
Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said problems like potholes, dysfunctional streetlights and broken railings were in the “Delhi portion” of the Flyway. “We had written to our Delhi counterpart to start work on the same. They have started the work on filling up potholes,” she told TOI.
Asked about the lack of maintenance, Maheshwari said NTBCL had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court order stopping toll collection. “The case is still going on in the Supreme Court. The toll bridge company is not doing any work at present. Many notices have been sent. The pothole repair work is currently being done by the local administration,” she said.
In an email response, the NTBCL, however, told TOI that the “operation and maintenance (O&M) obligations of the Noida Toll Bridge (including landscaping, security, cleaning, minor repairs, pothole repair and electrical repair) are being carried out diligently, regularly and efficiently by the company despite the collection of user fee been suspended since October 2016 and the government of UP & Noida defaulting in their obligations under the concession agreement to indemnify the concessionaire on account of change in law and (the) authority unilaterally seeking to negate advertisement revenues of DND and disrupt and interfere with revenues of NTBCL”.
The company claimed that the work was “periodically reviewed by an independent engineer”, jointly appointed under the concession agreement by the lenders, Noida and NTBCL, and the monthly reports were submitted to the Authority. “The October report has already been submitted to the Authority and no complaints or concerns with respect to O&M obligations have been flagged in the report,” it said.
NTBCL said it could not comment on its appeal on the HC judgment and issues relating to undertaking and financing of major maintenance since they were sub judice. “It may be pointed out that despite lack of support from Noida, UP government and Government of NCT Delhi, NTBCL has not delayed or defaulted on any licence fee to EDMC and SDMC, made timely utility and O&M payments, and continues to support the maintenance of the bridge in the timely and efficient manner,” it said.
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