The Government on Thursday shut down 62 toll plazas on national highways and expressways — mostly those built with an investment of upto Rs100 crore — after recovering construction costs and considering public interest. “Government has closed 62 toll plazas after recovery of capital cost and in public interest,” said Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways during question hour.
The toll plazas, that have been closed, were located in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The total revenue collected from toll plazas was Rs9283.23 crore in 2012-13, Rs11,436.59 crore in 2013-14 and Rs14,214.48 crore in 2014-15.
“Since the costs of building these highways have been recovered and further tolling seemed unviable, this decision was taken. This initiative also helps give the road users an obstacle free ride,” said an official. “We have identified 74 such projects and so far, tolling has been stopped at 62 of them,” he said. The Government officials are identifying more projects with investments of less than Rs100 crore under the PPP (public private partnership) model.