Automatic tolling a non-starter as developers dither imports

The ambitious plan to install high-tech automatic toll collection systems on the highways to check massive revenue leakage has been delayed as the private developers are not keen to import these machines.
    
The three pilot projects for the electronic toll collection (ETC) system, sources said, could not take off as scheduled in October and has been deferred by about six months now.
    
"The authorities had set October 31 as the deadline for pilot-testing on three road stretches but the developers are reluctant to import the equipment," a government official told PTI.
    
Another reason for the delay is the lack of expertise on the part of the concessionaires about the ETC system, the official said, adding they are undecided about the technology to be used and also the place to source the equipment from.
    
The Panipat-Jalandhar, Surat-Dahisar and Gurgaon-Kathputli stretches are the three identified sectors for installing the machines on a pilot basis.
    
"The results of the pilot projects are to be adjudged over a period of six months, after which they would have been rolled out gradually across the country. Fresh deadlines for the projects would be issued soon," the official said.

Soma Enterprise, which has been selected for installing ETC on the Panipat-Jalandhar stretch, said the delay was due to the uncertainty over the expenditure, right technology and the equipment to be imported.
    
"No one manufactures the ETC equipment in our country. We are still deciding on where to get the equipment from. We are looking at Europe for it and most likely in the next two months we will be able to install the system partly," Soma Enterprise CEO Ankineedu Maganti said.
  
The equipment will cost around Rs five crore and will be reimbursed by the National Highways Authority, he added.
    
However, a ministry official said the cost of installing ETC would be a part of the road project and the concessionaire will have to incur it.
    
Once implemented, the pilot projects will be evaluated by an expert committee over a period of six months and then the system would be gradually rolled out nationwide.
    
Under the ETC system, the toll amount is automatically debited from a chip attached to a vehicle once it crosses toll plazas.
    
The three pilot projects will adopt different technologies --microwaves, infra red and radio frequency--out of which the most adaptable for a nationwide roll-out will be selected by the committee.

At present, the process of crossing toll plazas is time-consuming as one requires to pay several times to complete journey on a highway stretch. Besides, different collection systems, including manual, lead to revenue leakage.

The NHAI, as per sources, suffers over Rs 1,500 crore loss annually on account of inadequate tolling. The Planning Commission has also taken note of this and called for arresting this revenue loss.