FASTag on Every Lane, NH Toll Collections Improve To Rs 150 Cr Per Day in 2023-24: Gadkari
On Indian national highways, the toll collections have improved to Rs 150 crore per day in the first three months this financial year, as compared to the daily average of about Rs 130 crore in the first quarter of 2022-23.
The ministry of road transport and highways presented the data in Lok Sabha last week and said that the average monthly toll collection through FASTags for the first quarter of 2023 stood at Rs 4,406 crore. This is more than the average monthly collection in the previous quarter (January-March 2023), which was Rs 4,083 crore, as well as the first quarter of 2022 (Rs 3,841 crore).
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari told the House that user fee collection was the highest from heavy commercial vehicles after the implementation of FASTag. “There are 898 toll plazas on national highways as on June 30, 2023. The user fee at a toll plaza on the national highway is levied as per the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008,” he said.
Ministry data shows that toll collection on national highways across India has jumped around three times between 2015-16 and 2022-23. In 2022-23, the user fee collection at toll plazas on national highways was Rs 48,028.22 crore, up from Rs 17,759.12 crore in 2015-16.
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In 2022-23, the average daily toll collection stood at Rs 132 crore, an improvement from Rs 93 crore per day during 2021-22. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, these figures were around Rs 75 crore per day.
The Transport Minister Gadkari stated migration from manual toll collection to electronic via FASTag has improved the overall user fee collection. Also, user fee collection increases every year on account of traffic growth, revision in user fee rates, and addition of new tollable road length, he added.
The minister added that at least 112 new toll plazas were started in the last financial year. The FASTag system was introduced first in 2016-17. The conversion of cash lane to FASTag lane has been gradual. All lanes of the toll plaza were enabled with FASTag from February 2021.
