NHAI moots RFID for ETC

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has begun the process of emphasising on the use of RFID for Electronic Toll Collections at the National Highways by inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) from interested stakeholders. It seems serious to take the issue forward soon as it has been updating its website on every development on the issue.

NHAI had invited EOI on the 4th of June 2012 and held an Open House of 30 companies that had expressed interest in the implementation of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) on National Highways, TrafficInfraTech has learnt. After the Open House, it received many enquiries from the stakeholders which were clarified and published on its website.

The initial plan to receive the Expression of Interest was July 20 but on the request of the stakeholders, it was postponed to August 9 as many wanted to explore international partnership for their projects. Latest news is that on further request of a few stakeholders, this date has been further postponed.

NHAI has asked for a few requirements to be met by the interested companies following which they will submit a proposal to participate. If they are found to be meeting the requirements, they will be shortlisted. The shortlisted companies will make a presentation to the NHAI Committee which will give them marks on selected criteria. The companies scoring more than 75 marks will be given a Request for Proposal (RFP) document. The process of participation will begin thereafter.

ETC has interested Union Minister Dr C P Joshi right from the time he took over as the Minister of Road Transport & Highways. A major requirement for ETC is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), a technology that uses electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency to identify an object or person in many fields. In short, it can be described as a bar code. RFID will help and ease the entire toll collection process right from identifying a vehicle to charging it for toll by reading its bar code without any human touch.