NEW DELHI, Nov 16: The government has increased the budgetary allocation for the roads sector and establish highly investment friendly fiscal regime to attract the private sector said the minister for surface transport TG Venkatraman here last week.

Inaugurating a two-day seminar on ``New Trends in Highway Construction,'' he said the allocation had been doubled over the last year and it now pegged at Rs 1964 crore for the current year. The government, he said was prepared to encourage the use of high-level technology for the construction of highways and has extended several concessions.

Under the new environment the private players would enjoy tax holidays and import duty exemptions on construction and maintenance equipment'', Venkatraman said.

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