Hyderabad: Free rides on state highways are going to be a thing of the past in Andhra Pradesh. Motorists will have to pay toll on roads being maintained by the roads and buildings department. These include state highways and major roads connecting district headquarters.
Toll is collected on National Highways that are overseen by the National Highway Authority of India.
The AP government has decided to develop 3,600 km of state and district highways in 13 districts under the Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) mode. Private companies will be asked to develop the roads and recover their investments over a period of time by levying toll.
The state government will go for viability gap funding to develop roads with less traffic. Here too the investor can recover the investment by collecting toll.
The first state highway that was made a toll road was Narketpally-Addanki-Medarametla road, which was handed over to a private company to collect a user fee by the government of unidivided AP.
“In Madhya Pradesh, a majority of major roads (other than NHs) have been developed by private parties who are collecting toll. The AP government will emulate the Madhya Pradesh road master plan model by making necessary changes to suit local laws,” said a senior official in the roads and buildings department
