The government is exploring alternatives to bank-centric tendering for its new barrier-less tolling system, under which eight projects have been awarded out of a total target of 25 for the financial year 2025.
“We have given primacy to banks, which act as the primary bidder and the system integrator because they are a regulated entity. But this model is not scalable,” a senior official of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said, adding that the government “will have to shift away from the model” after the first lot of 25 Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) tolling systems are put in place.
Barrier-less tolling on national highways aims to reduce congestion at toll plazas — a problem that has not been addressed by the radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based FASTag system introduced in 2021. The MLLF system will enable toll payments through reading of Fastags and Vehicle Registration Number (VRN) by high-performance RFID Readers and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. The first project was awarded on August 30 to ICICI Bank for the Choryasi fee plaza in Gujarat on National Highway 48. Jio Bank too has bagged a project for two toll plazas between Gurugram and Jaipur.
