NEW DELHI: Highway commuters have shelled out around Rs 2.1 lakh crore as user fee since the govt started tolling on NHs in 2000. This is a small part of the spend on building a nationwide network of highways and expressways undertaken by the Centre with the allocation for the current fiscal year itself estimated at Rs 2.7 lakh crore.
During the past 24 years, around Rs 1.4 lakh crore of toll has been collected by private highway players for stretches built under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, the ministry said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Thursday. Among the stretches, the Gurgaon-Jaipur corridor of NH-48 has generated around Rs 8,528 crore in user fees.
While private players recover their investment in highway projects from the toll they collect from stretches under PPP, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) receives toll only from stretches that are built with 100% govt funding.
Among states, the maximum toll came from highway users in Uttar Pradesh, which also has the widest highway network in the country. There was no toll revenue from northeastern states such as Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
At present, around 45,000 km of NH stretch out of nearly 1.5 lakh km is under tolling. The govt collects toll only on highways that are of at least two-and-half lanes (two-lane with paved shoulder). The NHAI targets to bring more highways under tolling to increase revenue.
In another reply, the ministry informed the lower house that in the past five years, the govt has spent Rs 10.2 lakh crore for construction and maintenance of NHs.