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INFRASTRUCTURET MOBILITY 2018

Of course, there are issues when transport in terms of cars, which The number of
electronic tolling gets intercepted by typically comprise 70% of the traffic transactions at
the manual tolling, that becomes a very in terms of numbers, is going for a
big issue and that is something which big increase. the toll plazas are
NHAI is trying to resolve. But then there It is noted that the cost of land increasing, they are
is a tremendous scope available; of acquisition is never charged to the
course, we would not like to even have customer. There is always a built-in increasing at a very
a 6-second wait, we would like to have subsidy given to the user, even if fast rate. The number
a wait literally zero, means at a speed of the roads are tolled. So, tolling is
60 one can pass through the toll plaza, just to recover a fraction of the of vehicles passing
that should be the ideal scenario. But cost, not the entire cost, that is the through the highways
then even if you are able to bring 90% costing arithmetic. So, whenever we
reduction in the travel time by adopting talk about tolling, people have that are increasing almost
complete e-tolling solutions, it is going misconception but that is not true. It at the rate of 10%
to be a reformative step for the country. doesn’t really meet the entire project
There were issues of connectivity. cost, it meets a part of it over a longer every year. This kind
The real time connectivity was always period. But it helps in discounting the of increase can be
an issue because toll plazas are mostly cost of the projects over the period. tackled only with
in the remote locations. As per our What is the status now? From
norms now, these have to be at least December 1, 2017, all the new some kind of digital
10 kms away from the municipal limits. vehicles were mandated to be fitted solutions and the
So, when we talk about that, naturally with RFID tags or the Fastag. That
we are forcing the toll plazas to be in was the game changer because manual solutions will
a place where the connectivity would every new vehicle sold in the country probably have to go
not be very good. If you provide for the came with a pre-fitted RFID tag
OFCs the linkages get broken very often having some balance. There are away.
and then there is a disconnection and 32.50lakh FastTags fixed on vehicles.
disruption. So, often you have to have a Percentage-wise, the collection would
back-end good electricity support. not have increased by that figure,
So, electronic tolling has faced initial because the number of vehicles sold
teething problems but then having are more in terms of cars and less in
got stabilized, it really received a good terms of heavy vehicles but soon, we create a bank agnostic Fastag and that
impetus. The Ministry started with will start seeing the penetration. is going to be a game changer because
giving certain discounts of 10% and One of the major challenges is anybody having an account with any
7.5% and in the third year, 5% to operational. Entry of one vehicle bank would be able to use the Fastag
incentivise tolling. As a result, it has without FastTag can cause chaotic without really tagging himself with a
really taken an upbeat and as we go situation at the Toll Plaza. Accuracy particular bank.
more towards PPP, BOT and even EPC of Readers, FastTag stickers, Black As far as the technology is concerned
projects have started tolling. list and settlement process remain it is fairly robust; it has not faced any
cumbersome.
When we are talking of the future glitches so far. The connectivity issues
of Indian highways, we have the vision Twenty five percent of todays also have been broadly sorted out. The
of reaching at 50 corridors from the collection is being done through challenge lies at the backend to reduce
present six corridors. From 40% freight e-tolling and we hope that it will be the reporting time and try to bring it
on NHs, we will go to 70% - 80% Freight substantial by the end of this year. The real time as fast as possible.
on NHs and 500 districts connected by ministry is already working in making it There are certain issues with tolling
4- lane highways in the next five years. more efficient. as on date because we toll for certain
National Highways will be doubled to The FasTag was bank-specific, that stretches of the road. If you are tolling
200,000km. The transport sector is was a big issue. IHMCL and NHAI along for say 45 kms of the road stretch then
going to see a boom, as the present-day with NPCI is working on the solution to somebody may be using it for just 10

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