Devanahalli toll plaza collected Rs 308 crore in one year
Bengaluru: The Devanahalli toll plaza near the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru has earned a revenue of Rs 308 crore in the financial year 2023-24. This was revealed in a reply to the Rajya Sabha regarding the collection of user fees on national highways across the country. In the last decade, the toll plaza has collected Rs 1,577 crore, making it the highest revenue-generating toll plaza in Karnataka. The previous record was Rs 187 crore collected in the financial year 2018-19, before the 2024 financial year.
The reason for the huge revenue of this toll plaza is its strategic location.
The toll plaza is strategically located on NH 44, the primary route connecting Bangalore to Kempegowda International Airport. Bangalore Airport is the third busiest airport in India and the highway sees heavy traffic as lakhs of passengers travel to and from the airport every year.
In 2023-24, Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) achieved record passenger and cargo traffic, handling 37.53 million passengers and 439,524 metric tonnes (MT) of cargo. The airport served 32.86 million domestic passengers and 4.67 million international passengers during the period. It has achieved significant growth over the previous years with 31.91 million passengers in FY23, 16.29 million in FY22, 10.91 million in FY21 and 32.36 million in FY20.
NH 44, a major commercial corridor connecting Karnataka with neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, plays a vital role in sustaining the flow of goods and passengers through the toll plaza near KIA. Due to the continuous movement on this corridor, the collection at the toll plaza is also at a record level.
Kaniminike and Seshagirihalli toll plazas on the Bengaluru-Mysore highway collected Rs 180 crore in user fees in 2023-24. While Kaniminike collected Rs 7 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 91 crore in 2023-24 from toll collection, Seshagirihalli collected Rs 5 crore and Rs 77 crore during the same period.
The Bengaluru-Mysore highway, now a six-lane expressway, has drastically reduced the travel time between the two cities from three hours to approximately 90 minutes. This enhanced connectivity has significantly increased the vehicular traffic on the route.
