Implementing an electronic toll collection system across the entire national and State highways could save fuel worth Rs 1,000 crore annually by reducing the waiting time of vehicles at toll plazas, says a report by Crisil.
“Currently, there are close to 525 toll plazas, operating on national and State highways in India. Over 20,000 vehicles cross these plazas daily, each queuing up for approximately 5-10 minutes awaiting their turn to pay the toll fare. Each vehicle consumes almost 0.5-1 litre of fuel in an hour. Collectively, these vehicles spend around 1,800-3,600 hours at toll plazas, which accounts for a daily wastage of Rs 3-6 crore and annually, Rs 1,000 crore,” stated Mr Ajay D'Souza, Head, Crisil Research.
MANUAL V/S ELECTRONIC TOLL PLAZA:
The capital cost of setting up a toll plaza (both electronic and manual) is about Rs 1.3 crore, according to Crisil.
“But the operating cost for an electronic toll plaza (RFID-based) is lower at less than Rs 0.85 crore against Rs 1.2 crore for a manual plaza,” Mr D'Souza said.
The savings in fuel will far outweigh the initial cost of Rs 100 per vehicle that the system requires from vehicle owners, Crisil said. But, the agency could not comment on the total cost of implementing such a project.
The National Highways Authority of India proposes to replace manual toll collection at highway toll plazas with Electronic Toll Collection, a nationwide automated collection system.
Based on the current industry estimate of about 10 per cent leakage, annual losses for road developers are estimated to be approximately Rs 1,200 crore.
“An automated tolling system can effectively address this area of grave concern for road developers and lenders with exposure to road projects,” said Mr Prasad Koparkar, Crisil Research Head, in a statement.