With government's decision to stop toll collection till November 18 hitting concessionaires, NHAI has proposed to compensate up to 75 per cent of the losses due to the move resulting from demonetisation.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500/1000 notes last week, Union Minister for Roads and Highways Nitin Gadkari asked all the toll operators to stop collection at all toll plazas to enable smooth movement of traffic.
"On an average daily toll collection is around Rs 60-75 crore across the country so the loss they are facing is to that extent. We have proposed that we will make interim relief to these concessionaires by paying nearly 75 per cent of the losses to ease their cash flow," NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra told reporters on the sidelines of an Infrastructure Finance summit organised by industry body Assocham.
He said some of the tolls are publicly funded while others are private tolls.
"There are around 100 tolls which are publicly funded and around 265 private tolls. But these 100 have also been given on contract to private operators. So to ensure that these also don't face cash flow problem because of the decision, we have decided to provide the relief even to these tolls," he said.
Chandra further said NHAI has put forward the proposal to the government for its approval.
"We have insisted that this move is necessary for the concessionaires so that they don't face huge licenses and they will be able to support the government's demonetisation plans," he added.
The government has set a target of awarding nearly one lakh crore worth of projects this fiscal.
Yesterday the government had decided that no toll would be charged on National Highways till the midnight of November 18.
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Chandra opined that there is a need for a very credible toll regime in India to enable private sector infrastructure financing.
"There is a need for private sector infrastructure financing and suitable models, instruments so that they are able to deal with infrastructure development in a credible manner. The entire public-private partnership is predicated on the credibility of the toll regime," he said.
Talking about the e-tolling system introduced by the Centre for seamless and hassle-free movement of traffic on highways, he said, "We have received in-principle approval from RBI to integrate the entire system and we are awaiting its final approval for the proposal."
NHAI has designated State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and the digital wallet Paytm for issuing the tags.
"So far one lakh FAStags have been sold. But now, we want to bring in a system whereby settlement of toll collection can be made seamless for commuters having FAStags issued by different banks. National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), which is implementing the system, has received in-principle approval for this integration from RBI. We are now awaiting its final approval which we expect to get soon," Chandra said.
NHAI intents to issue at least 50,000 pass tags every month across toll plazas.
