CHENNAI: With the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) constructing multiple elevated corridors on heavily congested stretches in Chennai and other major metro cities across the country due to space constraints and land acquisition challenges, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) has made changes in the toll calculation formula for flyover and bridges on highways reducing the user fee significantly.
If an entire national highway stretch is built as an elevated corridor, the toll fee will be reduced by 50%. For stretches where elevated corridors make up 50% or more of the total NH length, toll charges will drop significantly – by around 10% to 40%. To this effect, the MORTH has amended Rule 4 of the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008, and the notification was issued last month.
The decision would lead to reducing the toll fee in the under-construction Chennai Port-Maduravoyal double-decker project by 50%. It will also benefit the future elevated projects which are being planned by the NHAI in Kilambakkam-Maraimalai Nagar (17 km) and Sriperumbudur-Maduravoyal (36km) stretches, which is an extension of the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, by next year.
The new rule mandates that the tollable length should be multiplied at five times the actual elevated highway/bridge distance instead of the previous multiplier of 10. The 10 times multiplier will still apply if elevated roads/bridges account for less than half of the NH stretch. However, in such cases, the total tollable length cannot exceed five times the actual highway length, according to the notification.
For example, under the old rules, a 20 km elevated highway (such as the upcoming Chennai Port-Maduravoyal stretch) would have been billed as
200 km, with car users paying `300 at `1.5 per km. Under the new rule, the tollable length is capped at 100 km (5 × 20 km), reducing the fee to `150. The user fee will also be reduced correspondingly to other categories of vehicles, including trucks, buses and heavy vehicles.
Similarly, for a 40 km NH section with 10 km elevated road and 30 km regular highway, the total tollable length comes to 130 km, that is, 100 km for the elevated portion and 30 km for the rest. Since this is below the 200 km cap (40 km × 5), toll will be charged for 130 km.
In another case, if a 40 km NH stretch has 20 km elevated road and 20 km regular highway, the old calculation (20 km × 10 + 20 km × 1) would have yielded 220 km. With the new cap, the tollable length is restricted to 200 km (40 km × 5), bringing the toll fee down by about 10%.
“This reduction ensures fairer tolling for users, especially in corridors with extensive elevated stretches,” explained an official.
Sources said the new rules will not affect the toll rates at the Parali Pudur toll plaza on the Madurai-Thuravankuruchi NH, the costliest in the state. The NH stretch measures 61 km, but the tollable length is calculated at 127.8 km, including 69 km attributed to a 6.9 km four-lane elevated road.
“The revised rule applies only if the total tollable length exceeds five times the actual stretch – in the aforementioned case 305 km. Since this condition is not met, the existing toll system will remain unchanged,” an official explained.
The notification also said the new rule will take effect from the next scheduled toll revision for public-funded projects, after concession agreements expire for ongoing projects, and from the date toll operations begin at newly commissioned plazas.