National Highways Toll Fee Collection More Than Doubles In Five Years, Surpasses Rs 55,000 Crore

User fee collections at toll plazas on National Highways have seen a significant rise, recording a 103.18 per cent increase over the past five years.

Data provided by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari highlights that Rs 27,503.86 crore toll fee was collected in 2019-20, Rs 27,926.67 crore in 2020-21, Rs 33,928.66 crore in 2021-22, Rs 48,032.40 crore in 2022-23, and Rs 55,882.12 crore in 2023-24.

During the ongoing winter session of the Rajya Sabha, Ludhiana MP Sanjeev Arora raised questions regarding the number of toll plazas on National Highways as of 2024.

He had asked about the number of toll plazas on National Highways as of 2024, along with the annual revenue generated through toll collection, and how this has changed over the past five years.

Responding to Arora’s queries, the Minister stated that as of October 2024, there are 1,015 operational toll plazas on National Highways.

The government has declared all lanes of the fee plazas on National Highways to be “Fastag lane of the fee plaza” with effect from the midnight of 15 and 16 February 2021 which improved the overall efficiency of user fee collection, the minister said.

Further, the user fee collection increases every year on account of traffic growth, revision in user fee rates, addition of new tollable road length etc, the minister said.

The Minister further shared that Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) penetration on National Highways reached 97 per cent in 2022 and 98 per cent in 2023.

The minister informed that an impact assessment study on FASTag System was conducted by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through consultant.

The finding of study reflects that average waiting time at fee plazas has been reduced from 734 Seconds to 47 Seconds for Financial Year 2022. Congestion on fee plaza are monitored through a GIS based Toll congestion monitoring solution, the minister said.

Also Read: Trump Plans To Abolish 'Costly' Daylight Saving Time: What It Means For The US