Ministry seeks more funds for national highways

With a massive outlay of Rs 250 billion planned for the highways in the next five years, Road Transport Minister B C Khanduri said on Thursday that higher allocation in the forthcoming Budget was required.

"We are working on it (for additional allocation in the Budget). It will depend on the funding requirements." Khanduri said after his pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.

It was up to the finance minister to decide how the additional resources would be made available, he added.

Khanduri also sought reduction in import duties on machinery that are required for road building, in a bid to boost the construction works in the sector.

He said the Rs 250 billion required in next five years for national highway projects extending over 44,000 km was in addition to funds required for the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South and East-West corridor projects.

The ministry is also in talks with Life Insurance Corporation for mobilising resources for highway development, Khanduri said.

He said the National Highway Authority of India has so far raised Rs 8 billion through bonds and is expected to mop up Rs 14 billion by the end of financial year to be utilised for the GQ project.

A similar amount would be raised in the next fiscal depending upon the needs, he indicated.

Apart from bonds and borrowing from LIC, the ministry would seek central assistance depending on the funding requirements.

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