Dwarka Expressway in NCR to get barrier-free electronic toll collection system

Gadkari said a tender for installing a barrier-free toll collection system had been floated for the Dwarka Expressway as a pilot project

NEW DELHI: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that a plan to set up a barrier-free electronic toll collection system in a phased manner on national highways was in the works.

Vehicles move on Dwarka Expressway in New Delhi (HT File Photo/Vipin Kumar)

The first such booth would be installed on the Dwarka Expressway in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Replying to a question by Maharashtra MP Ashok Chavan, Gadkari said a request for proposal for the Dwarka Expressway has been floated and such systems may be implemented on other stretches of national highways in a phased manner depending on the outcomes and efficacy of the pilot.

He added that the cost of operations was expected to be lower in the barrier-free fee collection system. However, the minister did not quantify the revenue that was likely to be saved from operating these unmanned booths or give a timeline.

In response to another question by Punjab MP Sanjeev Arora, Gadkari said the adoption of the FASTag system has reduced the average waiting time at toll plazas from 734 seconds to 47 seconds for the financial year 2022-23, according to a study commissioned by a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Gadkari added that user fee collection increases every year on account of traffic growth, revision in user fee rates, and the addition of new tollable road length.