Toll booths to go solar: Nitin Gadkari
The ministry for road transport and highways is planning to make half of the road toll collections digital by March this year
New Delhi: Minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Thursday said toll booths in the country would soon go solar. Besides, his ministry is planning to make half of the road toll collections digital by March this year. At present, there are over 350 toll booths in the country.
Talking to media, Gadkari said the government plans to make all toll booths in the country solar powered and operators will be informed to install solar cell panels on toll booths to meet their power needs. He added that at present only a handful of toll booths use solar energy.
He further said that around 20% of tolls in the country have gone digital and the target has been set for 50% by March, which he is confident could be achieved.
The moves are among the key initiatives for the new year by his ministry, which has allocated around Rs4.6 trillion for roads and shipping projects across the country during the current fiscal. The minister said both his ministries–road transport and shipping–would cross an investment of Rs6 trillion in the coming year.
The minister added that road ministry would allot road projects for 15,000 km by March and in 2017-18 the aim is to construct 17.13 km road per day on an average.
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