By the end of March, the Centre is aiming to scrap at least 125 toll plazas to save the public unnecessary harassment and improve on-road mobility.
The Government has initiated a survey of all road projects with toll collection plazas built with an investment up to Rs100 crore, where either the costs have been recovered or managing toll collection has become unviable.
So far, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has identified 74 public funded tolls which have become white elephants as costs of toll collection and toll plaza management have become ungainly as compared to its utility.
“We have already shut down 61 public-funded tolls which have outlived their utility. Not only were they expensive to manage but were also holding up traffic, causing wastage of both time and fuel, which accumulate to heavy costs to the nation,” said Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Highways and Transport. Gadkari was addressing the inaugural session of the 5th Edition of Indian Supply Chain logistics Summit organised by Indian Chambers of Commerce in the Capital.
“The Ministry is looking at projects with investment less than Rs100 Crore, which were built under Public-Private Partnership. We are working at ways to shut down all such toll plazas, which have become unviable after addressing contractual obligations,” he said.
The Minister said that electronic toll being introduced at toll gates in the country will help in reducing the waiting time of vehicles which presently costs 2-3 per cent of the GDP.
“The e-toll collection system introduced last year will help save Rs88,000 crore and cut waiting time at toll plazas significantly,” said Gadkari, quoting a Transport Corporation of India-IIM, Kolkata study.
The study said, “Rs60,000 crore was lost on account of various delays at check posts and electronic toll collection could save Rs88,000 crore.”
The Minister added that out of the 350 toll points on the Mumbai-Delhi route, 140 have been converted into e-toll points.
The Ministry has constituted a new company — Indian Highways Management Company — for implementing ETC across the country. It has equity participation from NHAI (25 per cent), concessionaires (50 per cent) and financial institutions (25 per cent).