NHAI's toll plaza integration plan runs into clause hurdle

The National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) plan to integrate all the toll plazas has hit a hurdle as the clause it signed with private road developers does not compel the latter to convert their existing software.

“We cannot compel the private developers to migrate to a different software as the clause only asks them to install a computerised system and connect it to our central server,” said a senior NHAI official on condition of anonymity.

There are 147 toll plazas in the country. Of this, 96 are public-funded and the rest are operated on the build-operate-and-transfer (toll) basis.

NHAI earns revenues worth around Rs 2,000 crore from the public-funded plazas.

“We will change the software of our 96 toll plazas. But the new toll roads have this clause allowing us to ask them to change the software whenever we want. Asking the earlier ones to change them will be a difficult task,” said the official.

The road transport ministry had constituted a committee headed by former Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani to select a software for integrating all the toll plazas into a central server.

The five-member committee, which includes director-general (roads), road transport ministry, and member (technical), NHAI, will submit its report by the month-end.

The three electronic tolling systems in the plazas are active, passive and infrared. Under the active tolling system, the tag sends as well as receives signals; in the passive system, it only sends signals; and the infrared system (it sends and receives signals on optical fibre).

As of now, the toll plazas are connected only to the central server at the NHAI headquarters in New Delhi.