Good News For Motorists! Govt Announces Up To 50 Per Cent Cut In Toll Rates On National Highways With Bridges, Tunnels

(MENAFN- Live Mint) In a major relief for commercial vehicle owners, the central government has announced to slash the toll rates up to 50 per cent for the sections of National Highways with structures like tunnels, bridges, flyovers or elevated stretches.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to revise NH Fee rules 2008 and issued a notification informing about new formula to be used to calculate toll charges.

The July 2 notification reads,“The rate of fee for use of a section of national highway comprising of structure or structures shall be calculated by adding ten times the length of structure or structures to the length of the section of national highway excluding the length of structure or structures, or five times the total length of section of national highway, whichever is lesser.”

'Structure' defines an individual bridge, tunnel or flyover or elevated highway.

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If a section of a national highway spans 40 kilometers and consists entirely of structures, the minimum length for user fee calculation is determined as follows: either 10 times the length of the structure, which is 10 × 40 = 400 kilometers, or 5 times the total length of the highway section, which is 5 × 40 = 200 kilometers.

"User fee shall be calculated on the lesser length i.e. for 200 kilometers" than 400 kilometers. The user rate applies to only 50 percent of the calculated road length in this case.

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According to existing rules, users are charged ten times the regular toll rate for each kilometre of structure on national highways.

A senior official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI ) mentioned that this toll calculation method is intended to compensate for the significantly higher construction costs involved in building such infrastructure.

An official asserted that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' new update lowers the toll rate for segments like flyovers, underpasses and tunnels up to 50 per cent.

(With inputs from PTI)

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