Pilot unified toll collection to start by July
Passengers will ultimately suffer as bus operators will start charging them more once toll collection gets underway
Pilot unified toll collection to start by July
Passengers will ultimately suffer as bus operators will start charging them more once toll collection gets underway
File photo shows a portion of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway Bangla Tribune
Shohel Mamun
March 12, 2022 2:59 AM
A pilot unified toll collection and management system will start on two major highways—Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Chittagong—by July this year, according to officials concerned.
The system will be in place on all four-lane highways and the sole expressway in the country gradually.
It means paying toll will be mandatory on major national highways. Initially, toll will be applicable for passenger buses and goods-laden trucks, and gradually all vehicles will fall under the toll framework.
According to the toll policy, the base toll is Tk20 per kilometre on important highways, Tk15 on national highways, Tk10 on regional highways and Tk5 on district roads. However, the Finance Division in April 2021 approved Tk10 per kilometre as the base toll for the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) could subsequently cut all base tolls by 50% considering the demand of transport owners.
In that case, a medium-sized truck and bus will have to pay Tk550 and Tk495, in that order, to use the 55km expressway on top of the toll to use the Padma Bridge.
The Dhaka-Chittagong Highway is considered a national highway. Therefore the base toll will be Tk7.5 per kilometre with the 50% concession. A medium-sized truck and bus will have to pay Tk1,860 and Tk1,612, respectively, to use the 248km highway.
“The unified toll collection and management system will get underway by the beginning of the upcoming fiscal year as a pilot scheme. It will assist in gradually installing the software on all highways,” said Fahmida Haque Khan, deputy secretary (Toll and Axle) of the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD).
According to the RTHD and RHD, drivers can pay toll easily by swiping a digital card at booths while plying any highway. The card can be used at any toll booth installed by the RHD on highways.
“All vehicle and driver data can be stored digitally once a card is swiped, and it should help curb criminal activities and ensure passenger safety,” Fahmida told Dhaka Tribune.
But a manual toll collection system will also be incorporated into the booths until the digitization process is complete.
The RHD has already conducted a survey for assessing the infrastructure needed to start collecting toll on four-lane highways.
It has also developed a software to be installed at selected points of highways and is in the process of manufacturing digital toll paying cards.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned to collect toll from long-haul vehicles on national highways at an Ecnec meeting on September 3, 2019.
After the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan told reporters that the toll collected would be spent on the maintenance and repair works of roads.
Vehicles travelling short distances would not have to pay any sum of money, he said, adding that a detailed guideline on it would be prepared soon.
Passengers to bear burden
Passengers will ultimately have to bear the burden as bus operators will start charging them more once toll collection gets underway.“There is no alternative to charging passengers more once the decision is implemented,” said Khandaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association.
The authorities should keep highways smooth by repairing potholes and removing accident blackspots before enforcing the toll system, said Prof Hadiuzzaman, director of Buet’s Accident Research Institute.
The RHD currently collects toll on the two-lane 50km Hatikumrul-Bonpara Highway, 13.7km Chittagong Port Access Road, and 74km-long stretch of the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway between Jagadishpur and Sherpur, under the Toll Policy, 2014.
There are 22,096km of national and regional highways and district roads under the RHD. The Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway are four-lane highways. The Dhaka-Mawa-Faridpur is the first expressway of the country.
