The empowered group of ministers (eGoM) for national highways on Wednesday decided to reduce toll charges on two-lane national highways. The reduction will be implemented through amendment in National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008.
As per the decision of the eGoM, which comprises road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, concessionaires of two-lane highways can impose a fee of 60% of the maximum rate applicable for four-lane roads on users provided the cost on upgrade of the highway is over Rs 2.5 crore per kilometre.
Under the existing rules, this charge is applicable if the total investment on upgrade of a two-lane highway is more than Rs 1 crore a kilometre. The 2008 rules prescribe base rates of 0.65-4.2 to arrive at the chargeable toll for different vehicles on the four-lane road. The base rates for four-lane roads will continue in the new rule also, a senior government official in the know told FE. “However, the road transport and highways ministry has to get the proposed amendment approved by the Cabinet before implementing the same,” the official said.
Earlier the ministry was considering different toll rates based on the level of investment required but that proposal was scrapped after the recommendation of a committee headed by Planning Commission member BK Chaturvedi.
As per the formula the ministry was considering earlier, 60% rate was applicable only on roads that required investment of more than Rs 3.5 crore. In case the road involved an outlay ranging between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2.5 crore, the proposed rate was 30%. If a road was to be developed at an expenditure of Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 3.5 crore, the rate increased to 50% of what was applicable to a four-lane road.
The amendment was proposed after the fee rules 2008 got adverse public reaction. One of the grounds for the negative feedback was that the rates were “too high” for daily users. The eGoM also decided to exempt members of parliament and legislative assemblies from paying toll, as was the case in the fee rules 1997, and the ‘bucket approach’ to settle the ongoing disputes between concessionaires and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)-the nodal body for award of highway development projects.
In the ‘bucket approach’, the Chaturvedi Committee suggested that the disputes should be classified in three groups-those upto Rs 10 crore, between Rs 10 crore and Rs 100 crore and above Rs 100 crore. As per the industry, disputes worth Rs 10,000 crore are stuck in litigation but NHAI puts the amount at Rs 3,500-4,000 crore.