New Delhi, May 18 (KNN) The Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL), promoted by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Concessionaires and Financial Institutions has invited bids for the empanelment of agencies for  the installation, operation and management of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) lanes.

NHAI incorporated IHMCL, a new Company under the Companies Act, 1956 with equity participation from NHAI (25 per cent), Concessionaires (50 per cent) and Financial Institutions (25 per cent) for implementation of ETC system on National Highways in India.

The agencies will be required to provide Central Clearing House (CCH) services on a national level for back-office functions like user account management, transaction processing, settlement and reconciliation etc at public as well as private-funded toll plazas.

Also, the agency will have to tag distribution through POS Stations which would involve Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag procurement, registration, distribution / sale and top-up.

The CCH provider will have complete end-to-end responsibility for managing this national ETC project and the tag distribution and plaza equipment agencies (engaged by IHMCL) will work under CCH provider.

The bid evaluation consists of a two-step process of technical qualification followed by empanelment.

In order to ensure road user convenience the CCH will establish Point of Sale (POS) terminals at convenient locations (Toll Plazas, Fuel Stations, Vehicle Service stations etc) throughout the country.  The road user can approach a POS and apply for an RFID tag.  On the successful completion of a registration process a RFID tag, that uniquely identifies the vehicle, is issued and affixed on its windshield at the POS. The vehicle will then be ready for electronic toll payment at all the dedicated ETC lanes supporting the IHMCL’s nation-wide ETC program.

Presently, there are around 220 (114 - Public Funded and 106 - BOT Projects) toll plazas operational on national highways.

Concessionaires and organizations (OMT) that operate public-funded toll plazas can join the nation-wide ETC program by registering themselves with the CCH.  It thus becomes the CCH’s responsibility to acquire the ETC transactions that are generated in the related toll plazas, get the  clearance and  settlement performed  and  credit the settled toll amount to the concessionaire’s / OMT’s bank account.

All such registered concessionaires / OMT can view their account status, generate relevant MIS reports, apply for implementation of toll rates and communicate user account blacklist requests via an exclusive concessionaire portal. The POS also facilitates the topping-up or recharge of a road user’s ETC account. 

Alternatively, the road user can recharge the account via electronic payment by using the road user’s web portal provided by the CCH. The portal also enables the road user to view her / his account status and obtain usage statements of ETC transactions at various toll plazas.

Another important service offered to the road user is a customer care call centre to redress user complaints and provide information on account status and usage as well as useful information about the ETC program.

A help-desk is provided for providing typically technical assistance to those stakeholders who are involved in the operation and maintenance of the ETC programme. (KNN)