In order to reduce the cost of transportation, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is mulling a proposal to scrap the 30-35% premium on toll charged on highways bypassing cities.
The move has come in the wake of instances of consumers using alternative routes to save costs. The apex body has also suggested doing away with the extra toll that private concessionaires charge for roads on which they have spent between Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore. No toll is charged on roads costing less than Rs 50 crore to upgrade or construct as of now.
The development follows the growing evidences that consumers are resorting to alternative routes like the newly constructed rural roads to save high toll tariffs. In turn, the private concessionaires are getting it difficult to find their returns on investment hit by traffic flows lower than projections.
On the other hand, concerned by lower traffic, construction companies contend that the government should work on increasing the volume of traffic instead of decreasing the toll.
Construction companies say that this mid-term change would adversely impact both current and future road projects and have demanded a compensation from the government in case of reduced toll tax.