In a fresh boost to road construction, road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday said a separate authority will be constituted soon for expediting development of expressways even as he promised new modes for funding construction of highways.

??Expressways have to be looked at separately. So we are looking at setting up an Expressways Authority on the same lines as NHAI,?? Nath said on the sidelines of a CII conclave on ?National highways development?.

??In the next three months, we are going to have a paper (for setting up the Expressways Authority), (and) then take it through (the) Cabinet so that we can take it to Parliament,?? he said adding that the move would provide impetus to those areas where expressways are required.

This would come in handy while implementing Phase V of the National Highways Development Programme, which envisages to construct 1,000 km of access controlled four/six lane expressways and would be distinct from the already existing highways.

Nath also promised to look at other issues that plague the construction of highways in the country-financing and land acquisition. He said the ministry is looking at introducing alternative ways of financing to attract international investors in the road sector. ??India remains a very good parking lot as an investment destination. We are looking at innovative ways of financing?equity financing, debt financing, pension fund financing,?? Nath said.

The ministry is also mulling setting up a Road Finance Corp this year on the lines of the Power Finance Corp, which would help increase public investment in road building and make credit available to such projects. ??The expressway authority and the Road Finance Corp are part of this year’s target plan that we are going to announce soon,?? the minister said.

Meanwhile the ministry is holding discussions with the National Highways Authority of India on new strategies for acquiring land.

Addressing the seminar, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also promised to remove bottlenecks in the successful bidding out of highway projects. ??While issues had arisen on the pre-qualification of bidders have now been removed, there are two or three interpretational problems which are being sorted out by the ministry,?? he said.