NHAI could lose Rs 350 cr due to toll rate cut

The road transport ministry’s agreement with truckers to bring down the toll for three-axle trucks by Re 1 per kilometre will lead to a loss of about Rs 350 crore annually to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The highway authority’s annual toll earning for 2009-10 was in the range of Rs 1,700 crore from 141 public-funded toll plazas in the country. “With this agreement, NHAI is set to take a hit of Rs 350 crore annually in terms of toll collection, as the majority of the trucks on the multi-axle section are three-axled,” said S P Singh, convenor, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training.

Urging the All India Motor Transport Congress not to go on strike, the ministry signed an agreement with the truckers to create a new category of toll collection for the three-axle trucks. This effectively reduced toll rates for such vehicles by one rupee to Rs 2.40 per kilometre.

NHAI is still working on the details of the impact on toll collection. “The impact will be huge because the number of three-axle trucks is high. The forthcoming projects on public-private partnership (PPP) mode will charge new toll, so the economics will have to worked out afresh,” said a senior NHAI official, who did not want to be identified.

The official added that bringing any change in the document according to the new toll rate will need clearance from the higher levels. Till now, there were three slabs for trucks — two-axle, three to five axles and six-axle and above — to levy the toll. The new rate was to immediately apply to all public-funded toll roads but will be applicable for PPP projects signed in the future.

Of the total number of trucks in the three-to-five-axle category, three-axle trucks constitute over 80 per cent, which meant the maximum toll from the three-to six-axle segment used to come from them, Singh added.

“The toll earnings from this category of trucks is over Rs 800 crore and around Rs 600 crore comes from three-axle trucks, which is to get impacted,” Singh said.