Do we really need to pay road toll?

It is baffling why consumers pay cess on petroleum products and road taxes for highway development when every single new highway is now a toll road

As of May 2014, India had a statewise length of over 92,851 kilometres of national highways. Even though expressways and national highways constitute only about 1.7% of the length of all roads, they carry about 40% of the road traffic. Rapid expansion of passenger and freight traffic makes it imperative to improve the road network in the country. The most preferred mode has been the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer). The recovery of cost is through tolls which are purportedly for a duration of 20-30 years. This method has not been without its flaws though.

A 2012 joint study by Transport Corporation of India and Indian Institute of Management – Kolkata found that the average waiting time for vehicles at each toll plaza on high volume routes was almost 10 minutes. The estimate was made taking in to account the 525 toll plazas operating on national and state highways at that time, the over 20,000 vehicles that crossed these plazas daily and queuing period of between five and ten minutes for each vehicle to pay toll. The study said the vehicles collectively spent between 1,800-3,600 hours at the toll plazas. The advantage of higher speeds gets somewhat minimized due to snarls at major toll posts. Some of these are now brazenly within municipal limits also, severely hampering traffic movement.

In 2011, a study by CRISIL Research estimated that the fuel wastage by vehicles waiting at toll plazas amounted to Rs 1000 crore annually, and based on each vehicle's fuel consumption of between 0.5-1 litre per hour, the daily wastage amounted to Rs 3-6 crore. This is not at all wise planning for a nation so heavily dependent on external supplies. It may be a good idea for a business but very poor for the economy. In the short run, government makes profit but in the long run, throws it all away as forex on imports. Ultimately, the nation and the taxpayer lose. The approximate 11,000 crore rupees of toll collection hardly justifies the humongous waste of a precious national resource which also adds to the air pollution.

The entire process of BOT model is mired in controversy as several of these infrastructure companies are said to have political backing. Besides, there is never a clear timeline when it comes to the transfer of the asset to the public. The infrastructure companies seldom consider themselves answerable to the public regarding the quality and maintenance aspects of the highways and bypasses.

It is baffling why consumers pay cess on petroleum products and road taxes for highway development when every single new highway is now a toll road.

There are various alternatives worth consideration. For instance, the petroleum cess could be hiked in specific areas to pay for road development so that burden is equitable. Another method would be to increase road tax on vehicles. Geo-identification is very easy and tax burden can be suitably adjusted so as not to penalize non users.