Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Credit: X/@nitin_gadkari
New Delhi: The government will soon come out with a tender for introducing GPS-based highway toll collection system on national highways, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.
Gadkari said that the pilot projects of GPS-based toll systems of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) have been successful, and the government will soon come out with a tender for implementing the new toll collection system.
"Pilot projects of GPS-based toll systems on national highways to replace toll plazas in the country have been successful... We will soon come out with a tender for introducing GPS-based toll collection systems on national highways," he said at an event.
The move is aimed at reducing traffic congestion and charging motorists for the exact distance travelled on the highways.
The ministry has conducted two pilot projects of automatic number plate recognition systems (automatic number plate reader cameras) to enable automated toll collection without stopping the vehicles.
Earlier this month, in a written reply to Lok Sabha, the road transport and highways minister had said that the government has appointed a consultant for implementing GPS-based toll collection system on national highways.
During 2018-19, the average waiting time for vehicles at toll plaza was 8 minutes. With the introduction of FASTags during 2020-21 and 2021-22, the average waiting time of the vehicles was reduced to 47 seconds.
Although there is considerable improvement in waiting time at certain locations, especially near cities, in densely populated towns, there are still some delays at toll plazas during peak hours.