KOCHI: In a bid to make the Thoppumpady BOT bridge toll free, Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has decided to end the agreement with Gammon India, the company that undertook the construction of the bridge and is now collecting the toll.“GCDA will approach the company within a week,” N Venugopal, GCDA chairman told the City Express. “GCDA is ready to pay the company the amount that they would collect as toll during the remaining period of the contract,” he said. He added that the amount could be decided by a third party comprising of politicians and others social workers.To avoid any dispute with the government, Venugopal said that the company and the government should sit together to find a solution. “The agreement is between GCDA and the company. The government is not a part of it,” he said.In case of an arbitration, it has to be decided by a panel consisting of three persons - GCDA chairman or his nominee, a company official and a port official. However, there are very less chances of any conflicts in regard to the termination of the contract, he added.The bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 22 crore and the company has collected around Rs 41 crore till February 2012 as per the submissions made to the sales tax and the income tax.“They have already got double their investment and we hope that we would hear a positive response from them,” he said.The Thoppumpady BOT bridge agreement was signed in 1999 and was opened to the public in 2001. As per the agreement, the company had the rights to collect toll for 13 years and nine months. The agreement with the company comes to an end in 2013.
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