NHAI projects 63% jump in toll collection

Five years after the National Highway Development Programme was started, the government expects to make Rs 728.9 crore through toll-collection during the current year.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has projected a nearly 63 per cent jump in its revenue through toll collection on public-funded projects from last year's Rs 445.2 crore, according to official statistics.

Nearly 78 per cent of the revenues are projected to be yielded by stretches under the Golden Quadrilateral, which connects the four metros in the country.

The balance is to be contributed by the four stretches under the north-south corridor and other projects, including bypasses and stretches aiding port connectivity.

However, the per-kilometre earnings are expected to decline by nearly 7 per cent to Rs 28 lakh from Rs 30 lakh earlier. This is because progressively more stretches in interior regions with low-traffic density are coming under toll, said road transport and highway department officials.

"As more stretches are brought under the tolling net, the average collection per kilometre is pulled down by those stretches that do not attract much traffic," an official said, adding that the NHAI initially brought the high-density routes under toll.

Till September 2005, toll was collected for a total of 3,389 km of roads, of which 1,090 km were brought under the toll net during April-September, 2005.

However, the length under NHAI toll was 11.5 per cent below 1,233 km target set by the Prime Minister's Infrastructure Committee for the first six months of the current year.

Even projects involving public-private partnership have started yielding substantial revenues. For projects being implemented via build operate and transfer (BOT) and special purpose vehicle (SPV) route, barring the Durg Bypass for which figures are not available with the ministry, toll collections are expected to rise by 55 per cent to Rs 125.8 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 81.1 crore last year.

This also excludes the Jaipur-Kishangarh bypass, for which tolling started this year. A toll collection of Rs 90.7 crore is expected from this stretch. From April to September 2005-06, Rs 342 crore was collected on the public funded projects, while Rs 108 crore was yielded by BOT and SPV projects.