In doing so, the government has finally conceded to the longstanding demand of ministry of surface transport. The ministry had asked for the cess from diesel and petrol, which goes directly to the consolidated fund of India, to be put into a separate fund so as to eliminate the possibility that the funds may not be made available for road development and may be used by the government for other purposes.

The announcement has brought the golden quadrilateral and the north-south, east-west corridor expressway projects a little closer to reality.

The prime minister also said that he had agreed to the task force's recommendation that the golden quadrilateral be merged with the other projects announced. This will cut down onthe number of kilometers of highways that will have to be constructed and also allow the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to concentrate on the high density, commercially viable routes first. The prime minister has also reiterated his commitment to create the legislative and policy framework necessary to attract investment - both foreign and domestic.

He has also directed the task force to come up with innovative means of acquiring land in a way that farmers who lose their land could become stakeholders in the project.

Minister for surface transport M Thambi Durai said that the government was considering the setting up of an organisation dedicated to planning, development and management of the expressway projects.

The three-day seminar has been organised by ministry of surface transport, NHAI and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Although the first step in finding finance for the projects seems to have been made, the first day of the conference indicated that stategovernments have yet to give their full support.

While transport ministers from nine states, including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala were present, none made any commitments towards the expressway projects.

With the state government responsible for land acquisition, their cooperation will be critical for the success of the experssways. Regardless of the central government's plans, the state governments have their own agenda for road development.

Some state ministers have asked the ministry to take into account some of their needs before proceeding with the expressways through their regions.

Outlining the action plan of the NHAI, chairman Deepak Dasgupta said that the golden quadrilateral would be given the priority. High density sections had already been identified and 10 sections where there are no problems of land acquisition will be taken up first.

INSIGHT
Right move, wrong timing

The proposal to set up a dedicated fund for meeting the financial need of building highways isgood, in the sense it highlights the government's seriousness in building infrastructure. However, there is nothing stopping the government from diverting the fund generated by way of cess to cover its revenue shortfall. A case in point is the cess on crude oil which should ideally go to Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) but only three per cent of the fund collected is allotted to the sector, while the remaining is taken away by the government. Introduction of cess of Re 1 on diesel is also timed wrongly as it would have an inflationary effect across the board.