Favouring a hike in cess on sale of petrol and diesel for the development of roads, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath on Monday said the Railways and Rural Development Ministries have to be consulted before a decision in this regard can be taken.
Nath, who met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with his Budget proposals, said that funds for the roads development projects would be sought in the next Budget (2011).
"For funds we will be looking at next Budget and not this Budget, infrastructure will be a priority and funds would not be stalled," he said.
He said the government has to look at "innovative ways" for financing the roads projects.
At present, the government levies a cess of Rs 2 per litre of petrol and diesel for road and highways development.
As the country has to catch up with building the basic infrastructure, Nath said a target of 20 km per day has to be set.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has not been able to utilise the funds alloted to it, the minister said.
NHAI, which was assigned the target of awarding 60 projects worth Rs 70,000 crore under the National Highways Development Project, could not attract bidders for most of the projects as the contractors found them unviable.
Nath, who met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with his Budget proposals, said that funds for the roads development projects would be sought in the next Budget (2011).
"For funds we will be looking at next Budget and not this Budget, infrastructure will be a priority and funds would not be stalled," he said.
He said the government has to look at "innovative ways" for financing the roads projects.
At present, the government levies a cess of Rs 2 per litre of petrol and diesel for road and highways development.
As the country has to catch up with building the basic infrastructure, Nath said a target of 20 km per day has to be set.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has not been able to utilise the funds alloted to it, the minister said.
NHAI, which was assigned the target of awarding 60 projects worth Rs 70,000 crore under the National Highways Development Project, could not attract bidders for most of the projects as the contractors found them unviable.
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