The government has formulated a policy to collect toll ranging from Tk5 to Tk1,000 from people using all sorts of transports operating on district, regional and national highways and bridges across the country.
The policy will be implemented in phases and the money collected will be utilised in the repair, maintenance and development of roads.
The Toll Policy 2014, placed by the communication ministry, got its final approval at the cabinet’s regular weekly meeting held at the secretariat yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting attended by ministers, state ministers and officials concerned.
Briefing reporters following the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the policy was formulated to collect toll from passengers of vehicles moving on regional, national and district highways.
He said the policy would be applicable to road networks under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) but not those under the LGED. The RHD road networks cover 22,000 kilometres of roads and highways.
The government, however, would determine which roads the tolls would be collected from, the cabinet secretary noted.
Asked about the possible impact of the policy on people, Mosharraf said: “I don’t think this will have any impact at all because of the size of our economy and GDP growth.”
Quoting the premier, a minister told the Dhaka Tribune that she asked the department concerned to arrange more services as people would have no problem to pay for those.
The policy defined 13 categories of vehicles that would fall within the remit of toll. For medium-sized trucks, the toll will be Tk400, while Tk800 and Tk1,000 will be applicable to heavy trucks and lorries respectively. However, vehicles crossing bridges up to 200 metres in length will not charge any toll.
According to the policy, there will be scope to readjust and rationalise the ceiling of toll every three years.