The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has ruled out conducting any audit of toll plazas concerning the amount invested and the revenue collected. The ministry clarified that toll collection on National Highways would continue indefinitely, eliminating the need for an audit to assess whether toll booths should be reduced or closed. This was stated in response to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
P. Wilson, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), had asked Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari whether any audit had been conducted to analyze the investment made and revenue collected at toll plazas across the country. He also inquired about steps taken to reduce toll fees or close toll plazas where concessionaires and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had already recovered their investment.
Responding to these queries, Gadkari stated, “The user fee at toll plazas on National Highways is collected in perpetuity. Therefore, the question of auditing toll plazas to determine whether they should be reduced or closed does not arise.”
The ministry explained that the user fee, previously referred to as toll, is collected for utilizing any section of the National Highway under the provisions of the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008. As per these rules, the toll fee remains applicable until the end of the concession period agreed upon in the concession agreement. After the concession period ends, the government or the designated executing authority continues to collect the toll as per the prescribed rates.
Gadkari further elaborated that for public-funded projects, toll collection remains in perpetuity for specific sections of National Highways, including bridges, tunnels, and bypasses. Additionally, toll rates are subject to annual revision as per the rules.
“In the case of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects, once the concession period ends, the toll plaza is handed over to the government. Thereafter, the user fee is collected by the government through its designated agencies,” he added.
This statement reaffirms the government’s stance that toll collection is not limited to cost recovery alone but serves as a continuous revenue source for road maintenance and infrastructure development. The decision to continue toll collection indefinitely has raised concerns among commuters and opposition parties, who argue that tolls should be abolished once the initial investment has been recovered. However, the ministry maintains that perpetual toll collection is essential to ensure the upkeep and expansion of India’s vast highway network.
