Nine bridges in six districts: No one paying any tolls since August 5

Toll collection from vehicles using nine bridges under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) remains suspended since the political changeover on August 5.

The RHD has sought intervention from the home ministry as, in most cases, locals are preventing toll collection, officials said.

In light of this situation, the Road Transport and Highways Division has decided to send a second letter to the home ministry, asking for support to resume toll collection, they said.

Of the nine bridges, four are in Mymensingh and one each is in Chandpur, Chattogram, Dhaka, Kushtia, and Munshiganj.

This fiscal year, RHD is collecting tolls at 68 bridges across the country.

The department earned Tk 896.52 crore from these bridges in 2022-23 fiscal year, according to its annual report.

While most tolls are collected through lessees, in some cases, the RHD's field offices collect them directly.

After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, students and local people halted toll collection on 16 RHD bridges nationwide.

In many cases, they claimed that the tolls collected had already surpassed the cost of constructing the bridges and thus refused to allow further toll collection, according to officials.

The issue was discussed during the monthly coordination meeting of the Road Transport and Highways Division on September 24. The meeting decided that the division will send a letter to the home ministry seeking help for toll collection on the 16 bridges, read the meeting minutes.

A subsequent monthly coordination meeting on October 29 discussed the same issue. The meeting was informed that a letter was sent to the home ministry, and toll collection from 12 bridges was halted.

The meeting also decided to send a second letter to the home ministry.

According to the RHD, as of yesterday, toll collection from nine bridges remained suspended. At one bridge battery-run rickshaws are not paying toll.

The nine bridges are: Shambhuganj Bridge, Khurshid Mahal Bridge, Banar Bridge and Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Bridge in Mymensingh; Chandpur Bridge in Chandpur; Toilardwip Bridge in South Chattogram; Dalla Bridge (Shaheed Rafiq Bridge) in Dhaka; Syed Masood Rumi Bridge in Kushtia; Tulshikhali and Maricha bridges in Munshiganj.

Battery-run rickshaws are not paying tolls on Mohananda Bridge in Chapainawabganj.

Tolls for seven of these bridges are being collected by lessees while RHD is handling toll collection for three, shows document.

RHD Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan said they were trying to resume toll collection from the 10 bridges through discussions with the local administrations and the communities.

"The number of bridges from which toll collection is not possible is decreasing," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Moinul said they were collecting tolls following a toll policy, and they have to do so until the government declares those toll-free.

Officials said there is no government policy for stopping toll collections for those bridges where toll collection has exceeded construction costs.

Toll collection is a source of government income which is supposed to be used for maintenance of roads and bridges, they added.