The government has decided to charge toll tax on every new stretch it builds on national highway – either lengthening, broadening or improving them – if the cost of doing so is more than 1 crore per km.
The catch: any good quality road cost that much.
The only saving grace is that successive toll tax booths have to be atleast 60km apart.
The transport ministry is busy redrafting the National Highways (Determination of the Rate and Collection) Rules to bring about this change which will be effective in another three years from now.
The rule had been made once before, in 1997. But public pressure saw the minimum cost for charging toll raised to Rs. 3 crore per km, within which few projects then fell.
SOURCE: HT