The Hindu Business Line : NHAI to invite bids for toll plaza automation

DRIVING on select stretches of national highways could soon become much smoother with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) planning to introduce automated toll collection systems.

The NHAI plans to invite bids for automation of 14 toll plazas on the Delhi-Mumbai, Panipat-Jalandhar, and Delhi-Agra sections apart from the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway as a pilot project.

"We are planning to go for automation of toll plazas, which would allow users to pay tolls electronically with on-board units in their vehicles and smart cards," Mr Santosh Nautiyal, Managing Director of NHAI, told Business Line.

The authority plans to modernise the toll collection systems in a phased manner.

Once automated, there would be lanes where road users can drive past using an on-board unit that would be attached to the windscreens of their vehicles and the requisite toll would be deducted automatically.

There would also be provision for smart card lanes, where road users can swipe a smart card for paying their tolls.

"We would be inviting bids for 14 toll plazas in select NH stretches and for the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway in the first phase. All the stretches are public-funded ones," Mr Nautiyal said.

For automation in BOT projects, the NHAI is considering various options.

"One option is to pass on the specifications to the concessionaires and let them put the equipment in place. The other option is to take it upon us."

Advantages of the electronic toll collection systems include reduction in revenue leakages, transparency in financial transactions, and increased convenience for road users, as they do not need to stop at the toll plazas for making payments.

The authority plans to make the technology interoperable so that the same on-board vehicular units and smart cards can be used at all the automated toll plazas for making payments. Thus, it would define standards based on which players would apply.

The 14 tolling booths for which bids would be invited are Bilaspur (Delhi-Jaipur) on NH 8, Manoharpur (Delhi-Jaipur) on NH 8, Jaipur Bypass on NH 8, Kavalias (Kishengarh-Kavalias) on NH 79A, Jojro Ka Kheda (Bhilwara-Chittorgarh) on NH 79, Narayanpura (Rithola-Udaipur) on NH 76, Paduna (Udaipur-Kherwada) on NH 8, Khandi Obri (Kherwara-Ratanpur) on NH 8, Vantada (Ratanpur-Himatnagar) on NH 8, Karnal (Panipat-Jalandhar) on NH 1, Shambhu (Panipat-Jalandhar) on NH 1, Doraha (Panipat-Jalandhar) on NH 1, Srinagar (Delhi-Agra) on NH 2, and Mahuvan (Delhi-Agra) on NH 2.