New Delhi: Highways regulator NHAI plans to
install modern hi-tech electronic toll system for seamless
flow of traffic as well as to prevent the leakage of revenue
collection.
"We are in the process of a pilot study to select a
state-of-the-art electronic toll system for over 100 toll
plazas throughout the country.
"Under the system, a special tag containing a chip will
be fixed in the vehicle and the money will be automatically
deducted while crossing the plaza," a senior government
official told agency.
Under the pilot study, being conducted at three highways
stretches, three different electronic systems -- infra red,
active and passive -- have been installed. "We will select the
best system in a year or two and replicate it throughout the
country in the next five years time," the official said.
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 due to different
collection systems, including manual, there are chances of
leakage of revenue.
Unlike the present system, all the plazas will be
interconnected and sharing of the collection will be done as
per the individual plaza's contribution, the official added.
The three systems -- infra red, active and passive, are
being experimented on Surat-Dahisar highway, Gurgaon-Jaipur
highway and Panipat-Jallandhar Highway.
As on March 31, 2009, of a total road length of 11,037 km
which was converted into four lanes, only 6,476 km (58.7 per
cent) was put under toll.
Earlier, after a review of the highway projects, the
Committee of Infrastructure (CoI), headed by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, had pulled up the National Highways Authority
of India (NHAI) for failing to impose toll on completed
highway stretches.
Once the new system is introduced, the toll collection
will not only improve but more stretches could be put under
toll collection as the process would be simple.
The present guidelines for tolling say that it has to
commence within 30 days from the date of completion of a
tollable section or issue of notification, whichever is later.
The NHAI has been under fire from the Planning
Commission, CoI, Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and
Department of Road Transport and Highways for its inability to
fix toll on highways and complete projects on time.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2009, 19:31