Skip to main content

India looks at ways to use growing toll revenue

India’s ministry of road transport and highways has embarked on an exercise to see if the government can build more roads through its own resources using the revenue from toll collection. The ministry and the National Highways Authority of India are both flush with cash as more roads have come under tolling. Officials are considering moving away from public-private partnerships until economic conditions improve. Instead they are considering cash-contracts for new road construction and leveraging debt bas
April 10, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
RSSIndia’s ministry of road transport and highways has embarked on an exercise to see if the government can build more roads through its own resources using the revenue from toll collection.

The ministry and the 4855 National Highways Authority of India are both flush with cash as more roads have come under tolling. Officials are considering moving away from public-private partnerships until economic conditions improve. Instead they are considering cash-contracts for new road construction and leveraging debt based on the toll revenue.

Since 2004, the length of toll roads has increased from 1,826 kilometres to 6,660 kilometres for public-funded projects and from 70.35 kilometres to 6,585 kilometres for Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects. This has led to a 700 per cent increase in total toll collection in the period 2004-2005 to 2012-2013. About 63 per cent of this revenue comes from public-funded projects.

Officials say the growth in toll revenue means they have enough money to go ahead with road projects using their own resources.  They also plan to deploy more toll roads to maximise earnings and plough the revenue back into road construction.

Related Content

  • April 20, 2012
    California traffic deaths drop for fifth consecutive year
    California saw a decline in overall traffic deaths for the fifth year in a row. According to federal government figures, total vehicle fatalities dropped 11.9 per cent, from 3,081 in 2009 to 2,715 in 2010. Since the latest high of 4,333 in 2005, the 2010 figures show a total decline of 37.3 per cent.
  • February 2, 2012
    IBTTA 2010 meeting focuses on sustainability
    Ken Philmus, chief meeting organiser, talks about what attendees can expect to see at this year's IBTTA annual meeting and exhibition
  • October 30, 2012
    ‘Need for sustainable transportation infrastructure drives the ITS market’
    According to a new report by Global Industry Analysts (GIA), the global Intelligent Transportation Systems market is projected to reach US$22.7 billion by the year 2018, driven primarily by the need to enhance road safety by efficiently managing traffic, enforcing speed limits and easing traffic congestion. Rising demand from developing nations to incorporate ITS solutions also bodes well for the future of the market. The report provides a comprehensive review of trends, product developments, mergers, acqu
  • July 30, 2012
    Green Light WIM
    Beginning in the 1990s, Oregon was one of the first US states to use weigh-in-motion scales and transponder-based systems to enable trucks to avoid having to stop at weigh stations. Its Green Light preclearance system soon became a model for similar deployments throughout the country. Today, Green Light annually weighs and screens 1.6 million trucks as they approach 21 Oregon weigh stations and it preclears 1.5 million of them.