In a ground-breaking announcement, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has revealed plans to overhaul India’s toll collection system. Transitioning away from conventional toll booths, the government is poised to introduce a sophisticated satellite-based toll collection mechanism. Under this paradigm-shifting system, toll charges will be automatically deducted from commuters’ bank accounts, aligned with the distance traversed on highways.
In addition to streamlining toll collection, Gadkari noted that this approach enhances India’s transportation infrastructure’s efficiency and transparency. Using satellite technology, the government hopes to reduce congestion at toll plazas and offer commuters a seamless travel experience. In implementing such a visionary initiative, India affirms its commitment to offering cutting-edge solutions to its long-standing road network problems. As the country embarks on this transformative journey, stakeholders anticipate a paradigm shift in the way tolls are managed, heralding a new era of mobility and connectivity across the nation.
“Now we are ending tolls and there will be a satellite-based toll collection system. Money will be deducted from your bank account and the amount of road you cover will be charged accordingly,” news agency ANI quoted Gadkari as saying.
He added that this system would be helpful in saving time and fuel usage as well. To explain his point further, Gadkari gave the example of the reduction in travel time from Mumbai to Pune.
“Through this, time and money can be saved. Earlier, it used to take 9 hours to travel from Mumbai to Pune. Now it is a 2-hour journey. Seven hours of diesel get saved. Naturally, we have to pay some money in return. We are doing it through public-private investment. So we will have to return the money too,” Gadkari explained.
Further, the World Bank has been informed about efforts to improve the efficiency of toll plazas and reduce the wait times. Toll plazas are already experiencing a 47-second average wait time thanks to FASTag, which is a significant improvement over the previous 714-second average.
Reiterating his commitment to making India’s road network at par with that of the USA by 2024-end, Gadkari said that India’s fate will change by the end of this year. He said that he would “definitely be successful” in achieving this herculean task.
The Union minister also gave an update on the Bharatmala-2 project. Gadkari discussed the Bharatmala Pariyojana, a project aimed at developing around 26,000 km of economic corridors, and its importance along with the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South and East-West (NS-EW) corridors in managing the majority of freight traffic on roads.
“Bharatmala-2 is a project of about 8,500 km, Bharatmala-1 included 34,000 km. Many schemes have been approved and many are to be done,” he said.
There has been a 10% increase in construction and expansion activities on National Highways from April to November of the current fiscal year compared to the same period from 2011 to 2023. In contrast, the allocation of new construction projects has declined by 52% this year.
