DS Construction won the bid to operate the road between Delhi and Gurgaon.

But, by the time the road came up, both cities had grown and the traffic had jumped many times leading to long queues at the toll-collection point. Public anger had been brewing for past few years, as users felt short-changed having to wait for up to 30-40 minutes at peak traffic hours. However, despite repeated complaints, the NHAI could not do much as the contract did not set any wait period. The NHAI did serve the toll-road operator a termination notice earlier this year but under another clause. The special purpose vehicle, on the back of the toll revenues from this project, raised funds from lenders at lower cost and transferred part of the money to its parent company. While this case was in the Delhi High Court, the Punjab and Haryana High Courts took note of the traffic jams and asked DS Construction to stop collecting tolls for over two weeks. The orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Courts have now forced all stakeholders to look for ways to improve quality of service.

DS Construction and the NHAI have agreed for an out-of-court settlement in the Delhi High Court case, which involves not charging people when wait time crosses 10 minutes and DS Construction paying back over Rs 300 crore to the special purpose vehicle that operates this road.

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