The National Highway authority (NHA) has increased the toll on the Lahore-Islamabad M2 Motorway. According to the highway police, the toll will be increased by 10%.
According to the announcement, the new toll for cars is 830 Rs compared to the previous Rs 750. Meanwhile, the new toll for buses is Rs 2770.
The government introduced new taxes last week. It's worth noting that the National Highway Authority's website still shows the old rates.
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In September 2019, the National Highway Authority (NHA) raised the same tax rates by 10 percent or 62 rupees from previous tax rates. After the walk, cars and jeeps started to pay PKR 750 on the M2 highway.
In the meantime, the toll for trucks has been increased by PKR 298 from PKR 2980 to PKR 3278. For 22-wheel trucks, the toll was 4,213 PKR. Passenger buses had to pay PKR 2290 on the M2 highway from Lahore to Islamabad.
According to the National Highway Authority (NHA), the Federal Works Organization (FWO) can increase toll rates by 10 percent annually. This is due to an agreement signed in 2014. NHA should have made a public announcement about the toll rate increase to get an idea before they hit the pay boxes on the M2.
In addition, there is no public announcement this year about the increase in this toll on other highways.
In addition, the government increased the toll on the Lahore Ring Road by as much as 100 rupees last December. The largest increase was in the truck / trailer category. This was increased from 350 to 450 rupees.
The new tax rates took effect on December 22, 2019. Transport companies have also spoken out against a steady increase in tax rates, which has had a negative impact on their business.
Watch for more informative content like this one. Below are your comments on this story, whether the rate hike is justified or not.
A petition has been filed with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging the "illegal" increase in tolls from Islamabad to Lahore to 830 rupees over the past two years.
Attorney Sharif Sabir's petition claims all new taxes must be passed by parliament. However, he alleged that Federal Communications Secretary Murad Saeed unilaterally increased the toll, even though the budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year did not include such an increase.
He added that the toll for travel between Islamabad and Lahore has risen from Rs580 to Rs750 in the past two years and now to Rs830 “illegal and illegal without parliamentary approval”.
