Compensation portal set up for annual toll pass

New Delhi: The road transport and highways ministry has set up a compensation portal and assigned dedicated officers to enter into agreements with concessionaires, as part of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for revenue collection and sharing under the annual toll pass scheme.The provisions are aimed at smooth implementation and avoiding disputes over computation of revenue loss to concessionaires arising from FASTag Annual Pass.The annual pass, priced at ₹3,000 for 2025-26, entitles the holder to either 200 toll-free crossings or one-years of validity, whichever occurs earlier. It is anticipated that the facility – available only for private vehicles – will result in some revenue loss to the concessionaire. To compensate for that, the Centre had issued a mechanism for computing the revenue collected under annual pass and how much would be credited to the Centre after deducting the loss incurred by the concessionaire.

“Compensations shall be computed through a dedicated compensation portal developed for that purpose, which has been integrated with the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) for annual pass transaction data,” the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said in a recent circular.

ET has seen the circular.

NHAI, under the road ministry, has assigned general manager (technical) and general manager (finance and accounts) as nodal officers for handling revenue collection under build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll, Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), and toll-operate-transfer (TOT) projects, respectively.

Besides, it has mandated closed toll plazas to be considered in pairs of entry and exit for the purpose of compensation and directed quarterly reconciliation to be carried out both for payments made and exemptions.

Closed toll plaza is a type of toll collection where plazas are located at all entry and exit points of a highway or bridge, and tolls are charged based on the distance travelled or the specific exit used.