Revenue from Re 1 cess on petrol, levied from June 1998, and diesel, levied by last year's budget, would accrue to the fund and would be utilised for the development and maintenance of roads in the country. The minister said that the major problem being faced by the his ministry was lack of finance.

Singh was addressing a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee attached to the ministry of surface transport. Ashok Joshi, secretary (road and transport), ministry of surface transport, and Deepak Dasgupta, chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), were also present at the meeting.

Stressing the importance of a good road infrastructure as a prerequisite for the overall industrial and economic growth, he said that during the current Five-Year Plan, the ministry has declared a number of state roads as national highways aggregating to a total length of 17,712 km. The total length of the national highway network, which was 34,298 km at the end of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, now stands at 52,010 km.

The entire National Highway Development Project, comprising the Golden Quadrilateral and the north-south east-west corridors, is estimated to cost Rs 54,000 crore at current prices.

The minister said that besides a steady revenue stream from the revamped CRF, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will also mobilise resources by borrowing from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

NHAI will also establish limited number of special purpose vehicles and will arrange institutional loan on a non-recourse finance basis. For stretches, where traffic volumes are large, private sector participation will be encouraged, particularly for rail overbridges and bypasses.