Belavtodor Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Belarus is set to introduce an electronic toll collection (ETC) system on three motorways, Brest-Minsk ?1/?30, Minsk-Mogilev ?4 and Minsk-Gomel ?5, in 2013.

The new move is a part of the government’s plan to initiate the ETC system nationwide on all roads connecting the country’s capital city Minsk with regional centres.

ETC systems will be installed on the M1/E30 motorway in July 2013, reported state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency. M1/E30 is already a toll motorway; the road fee is collected manually.

On M4 and M5, the electronic toll collection system will be initially installed on the sections where improvement works are completed.

The national ETC system on the roads of Belarus will be implemented in three phases with a total investment of €260m.

The first phase is currently on track and will be completed by July 2013, with the second and third stages expected to run until January 2014 and 2015 respectively.

"The national ETC system on the roads of Belarus will be implemented in three phases with a total investment of €260m."

Belavtodor Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications road network office chief Alexander Golovnev was quoted by the national news agency as saying that the project is expected to pay back within a span of three years following the installation of the system.

"Tolls will be charged on trucks with the total permissible weight exceeding 3.5t," he added.

The ETC system is based on a technology of microwave data transmission over short distances and requires all vehicles to install the onboard devices.

Signal from the onboard devices will be sent through communication channels to the central office, which will register toll collection.

Onboard devices will be made available through a network of distribution points, including petrol stations and roadside service facilities.

The primary investor and contractor of the ETC system installation project is Austria-based Kapsch Group.