So enviable has the corporation's success rate been that enquiries are reportedly pouring in from states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka to help them get off to a similar start in infrastructure projects. The corporation, if anything, is living proof that if there is political will, the public sector can deliver the goods as well as the private sector.

They key to the corporation's success is simple: it pays its contractors cash on the nail for achieving specific work targets; it pays them bonuses for early completion of projects; and penalises them for delays. The money to pay for all this hasn't come from government budgets; it has come from government-guaranteed loans raised from the market (around Rs 1,200 crore of it), the servicing of which will be done from the toll income that will be generated after the infrastructure projects are completed. Some money will also come from commercialising the property on which the projects are constructed.

The problems, if any, will surface on the toll plans -- especially in the Mumbai flyover project. The corporation says it plans to charge a toll for every vehicle that enters or exits the city at rates varying from Rs 20 for cars to Rs 50 for buses and trucks and Rs 100 for trailers. In theory, this is fine; but levying a toll this way violates a basic principle of making users pay for services delivered.

Under the corporation's scheme, only road users who enter or exit the city will be tolled whereas it is Mumbai's vehicle owners who will benefit the most from the flyovers. Given the highly discriminatory nature of this kind of tolling, it is more than likely that the scheme will be enmeshed in courts for a long time.

It is possible to argue that any government has the right to decide whom it wants to subsidise (in this case, citizens of Mumbai will be enjoying a free ride), but every subsidy must have a justification. It is surely a travesty of justice if Mumbai's infrastructure will be paid for by all citizens except the ones making the most use of it.

The corporation's main defence for charging tolls this way is that any other method would make collections inconvenient, disrupt traffic (if tolls were to be collected at many more points in the city), and generally defeat the very purpose of having flyovers. This argument certainly has some merit, but what it boils down to is this: the only justification for this system of tolling is ease of collection. For a corporation that has blazed a new trail in project execution, this is actually a defeatist solution.

Opponents of the entry toll are suggesting simpler options like hiking the cess on fuel sold in Mumbai to get the city's residents to pay their share of the flyovers' costs. But, once again, this is a lazy solution driven by the same ease-of-collection logic.

A truly innovative organisation should be thinking of 21st century solutions. In some ways, the MSRDC is already thinking of them. It is planning to introduce swipe cards and toll plazas that that will drastically reduce the time spent at tolling booths. But the ultimate aim of the corporation should be to charge users for the roads they use -- like they are charged for electricity or water.

Today, it is possible to barcode cars in such a way that sensors on bridges or toll roads can track them and send usage information to a central computer. Car-owners can easily be sent monthly bills for roadspace or bridges used. A small pilot project can be commissioned in Mumbai by breaking up the city into zones, so that cars going from one zone to another can be tracked and charged for the use of roadspace. If the scheme works, it can be extended to the whole city, the state and finally the whole country.Any takers?