Govt to scrap 125 toll plazas by month end: Gadkari

The minister added that toll collection at some 65 road projects have already stopped

Aiming to spare the public from levy at highways, the government has announced it will scrap 125 toll plazas in the country by February-end.

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said toll collection at some 65 road projects have already stopped. The government has also decided to make projects toll-free where less than Rs 50-crore investment has been made.

Gadkari has asked officials to identify projects where the cost has been recovered or about to be recovered and also where the collection of toll has become unviable. "A total of 74 such tolls have been identified, of which 61 have been shut," said Gadkari, addressing the inaugural session of the fifth edition of Indian Supply Chain Logistics Summit here on Thursday.

Additionally, public-private partnership (PPP) projects with investment of less than Rs 100 crore are being identified where toll collections can be closed off. Ways are being explored to shut all such toll plazas after factoring in the requisite contractual obligations, he added.

The electronic toll (e-toll) collection system introduced in the country will help save Rs 88,000 crore and cut waiting time at toll plazas significantly, Gadkari said, quoting a Transport Corporation of India & IIM-Kolkata study.

The study said, "Rs 60,000 crore was lost on account of various delays at check posts and electronic toll collection (ETC) could save Rs 88,000 crore."

The minister said of the 350 toll points on the Mumbai-Delhi route, 140 have been converted into e-toll points. By completion of the e-toll work in the country, Rs 88,000 crore would be saved.

For implementing ETC across the country, a new company,  Indian Highways Management Company Limited, has been constituted. It has equity participation from National Highways Authority of India (25 per cent), concessionaires (50 per cent) and financial institutions (25 per cent). Its objectives are collection of toll through the ETC system and to manage the project strategically, administratively, legally, technically and commercially. It will also provide services of central ETC system, which include toll transaction clearing house operations, help desk support and setting up of call centres for incident management.

In the past, Gadkari has repeatedly stressed on the need to move to e-tolling systems, developing cement-concrete roads and promoting the use of alternative fuels such as bio-diesel.