Finance Ministry – New Delhi: In a relief for highway commuters, toll on the expansion stretches from two-lane to four-lane during the construction period will soon be halved and user charges on partially opened expressways like Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Jamnagar will be at par with other national highways. Currently, the toll on the expressway is 1. 25 times that of other NH stretches.

TOI has learned that the Finance Ministry has given the green signal to two proposals from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The latter had proposed halving the toll while expanding 10 meter wide two-lane highways into four-lane highways as passengers do not get the desired service as the road width is reduced during construction work.

At present, when expanding a two-lane highway to four lanes, the toll charged is around 60% of the normal NH toll. With the Finance Ministry’s consent to the proposal, user charges will soon be reduced to 30% of the normal toll during the construction phase. The Finance Ministry has asked the Highways Ministry to monitor and ensure strict enforcement of penalties on contractors violating deadlines in such widening projects.

Moving to bring the toll rates on partially opened expressways at par with other NHs, the Finance Ministry said such relief should be for one year or till the expressway is fully operational, whichever is earlier, officials said. The Highways Ministry had submitted that vehicles, especially heavy commercial vehicles, were not using the expressway to attract higher toll rates. The Finance Ministry has said that the decision to continue this relaxation beyond one year can be taken depending on the actual growth of traffic on such expressways.

It has also asked the highways ministry to impose penalty on contractors for delay in completion of work.