At a time when fuel prices have been spiraling, even transport, on highway net work , is to become more expensive for local motorists.
According to finance ministry sources the the Road Development Authority will be increasing the toll tax on highways by 50 percent to increase revenue and meet the high road maintenance cost
Revised rates is to be applicable for all types of vehicles plying on national highways and the toll fee will be hiked depending on the type of vehicle
With the new prices coming into effect, there will be a significant increase in revenue from toll collection, the officials said. The new rates will be applicable for single and double trips
Cash strapped government is to introduce steep hike in toll charge with the increase in traffic volume and number of vehicles using the express way net work with a view of raising revenue, Finance Ministry sources divulged.
The Road Development Authority (RDA) will raise the toll charge at least by 50 percent due the current economic situation and the increase in road maintenance costs, a senior official of the ministry said.
The aim is to collect Rs 12 billion in revenue from toll charges from the present Rs 8 billion per annum he added.
The government is compelled to introduce a steep hike in toll charges in accordance with the present programme of raising state revenue to meet the essential recurrent and capital expenditure, he revealed.
Total traffic through the country’s express network for the country was over 38.6 million where monthly traffic volume usage was 3.22 million and on average over 107000 vehicles used the express way net work daily, Finance Ministry data and RDA records showed.
Meanwhile the Lanka QR mobile payment app for toll payments at expressway is still to be implemented as a pilot project at the Kottawa Interchange of the Southern Expressway.
This Lanka QR mobile payment application has been proposed instead of Manual Toll Collection (MTC) at the expressway exit gates.
With the rapid growth of the traffic density, even the expressways are eventually getting congested especially near the toll gates.
As a result, the government took the initiative of introducing this electronic payment mechanisms very recently but only one prepaid payment option been considered under their new implementation plans.
This is of marginal benefit as the users do not have a liberty to make a choice. Therefore to check the user preference on electronic toll collection methods, five widely implemented methods been considered which were subsequently divided into pre paid and post paid.
