Toll Collection by Bank: Banks will soon be seen collecting toll tax on national highways. For this, the National Highway Authority of India has sought bids from banks. Experts say that if banks collect toll tax, there will be more transparency in toll collection. Also, there will be no loss of revenue.
New Delhi: Banks will now be responsible for collecting toll tax from vehicles passing through the National Highway. Actually, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will help banks to collect toll tax from vehicles on any national highway.
It will start from the recently opened Dwarka Expressway. The country’s first Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) toll collection authority has sought bids from banks. Banks offering the maximum revenue share will get tolling rights. This right will be for 3 years. The system will have to be implemented within three months of getting the contract.
How will the tax be collected?
According to the Times of India, there will be no toll collection plaza like a normal toll plaza at the MLFF tolling track. The tolling system will include field equipment and sensors installed on the gantries, which will collect information about the vehicles passing by.
The information about any vehicle passing through there and the amount of toll will be sent to the electronic toll payment system. This system will deduct the toll amount from the Fastag wallet.
The tolling system will be like this
There will be only one tolling point on the Delhi-Gurgaon border on this 28 km long expressway. It is about 9 km from Delhi. Only vehicles crossing this point will have to pay toll tax. The government has not yet issued any notification regarding how much toll will be charged.
Sub-contractors will be appointed
Banks do not have any expertise in direct toll collection. In such a situation, NHAI subsidiary IHMCL has allowed them to appoint sub-contractors to do the work. According to the bid document, sub-contractors should have experience of implementing MLFF-based tolling for at least 200 km and 10 years in India or abroad.
Why only banks?
NHAI is considering bringing more new greenfield expressways under MLFF to reduce congestion, pollution and make travel hassle-free. An official said that banks are under the supervision of RBI. Therefore, there will be more transparency in toll collection and there will be no loss of revenue.
