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India is steadily moving towards a toll road regime, with nearly 1,420 km of four-lane national highways already charging user fees from commuters. |
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While Gujarat has the highest number of sections of national highways that charge toll, with three sections totalling 325.16 km, Haryana comes next with 256.21 km of tolled national highways. |
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Most of the national highway sections coming under the toll regime include corridors being upgraded under the ongoing Rs 58,000-crore National Highways Development Project (NHDP). |
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The single longest section of the national highway, presently charging user fees, is the 161.52-km Haryana border-Kotputli-Chandwazi-Jaipur bypass on NH-8 in Rajasthan. |
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The 159.84-km Haryana border-Khanna-Jalandhar section in Punjab is also among the highway sections under tolls. |
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In Gujarat, the three sections levying user fees include the 148-km Vadodara-Bharauch-Surat division on NH-8 and the 121-km Bamanbore-Bagodara division on NH-8A. The sections under tolls in Haryana include the 116-km Panipat-Punjab border division on NH-1. |
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Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have more than one national highway sections under tolls, while all other states have just one section each where user charges are being levied. |
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The number of national highways sections under tolls is set to go up in a major way with the progress of the National Highways Development Project. |
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Under this project, over 13,000 km of national highways are being multi-laned and refurbished. The government has taken a decision to put all these sections under tolls. |
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The project comprises 5,846 km of national highways under the golden quadrilateral project, involving four-laning of highways between the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. |
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The golden quadrilateral project is set for completion in 2005. The second phase of the project, comprising multi-laning of the 7,300-km north-south corridor that links Srinagar to Kanyakumari and the east-west corridor joining Silchar and Porbandar is set to be completed in 2007. |
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