Govt Mulls Road Fund For Highways Development
The consultative committee of the ministry of surface transport has recommended the setting up of a dedicated road fund to be administered by a specialised Road Board.
The committee's first meeting held on Thursday was addressed by the minister of surface transport, M Thambidurai. He said the road fund was the only way for meeting development and maintenance expenditure of National Highways.
He said private investment would be able to meet only about 10 to 20 per cent of the highway expenditure and the government would have to provide funds through budgetary support for the remaining portion.
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He also said negotiations with multilateral institutions had been completed for 19 National Highway projects and five state highway projects. New loan negotiations are only expected towards the second quarter of 1999 after project preparations are completed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The ministry, he said, had received proposals from states for conversion of 16,000 km of state highways into National Highways and these were being examined. In addition, about 8,000 km of new National Highways would be declared during the Ninth Plan after clearances from the ministry of finance and the Planning Commission.