Traveling via national highways in India will now be cheaper
What's the story
The Indian government has announced a major reduction in toll rates, cutting them by as much as 50%. The new rates apply to sections of national highways that feature structures such as tunnels, bridges, flyovers, or elevated stretches. The move is aimed at reducing travel costs for motorists across the country.
Toll calculation
Revised rules for calculating toll charges
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has amended the NH Fee Rules, 2008, to introduce a new method for calculating toll charges. According to the revised rules, the fee for using a section of national highway with structures will be computed by adding 10 times the length of these structures to that of the highway section without them. Alternatively, it could also be five times the total length of this highway section.
Practical application
Examples to understand new charges
To clarify the new toll charges, the ministry provided examples. For example, if a section of a national highway is 40km long and consists only of structures, the minimum length would be calculated as either 400km (10 times length of structure) or 200km (five times total length). The user fee would then be calculated on this lesser length, effectively halving it for users.
Toll rationale
Current rules and rationale behind them
Under current rules, users pay 10 times the normal toll for every kilometer of structure on national highways. A senior official from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) explained that this method was introduced to compensate for higher construction costs associated with such infrastructure.