Funds so collected could be kept in a dedicated fund for exclusive use to develop roads, the union minister told reporters. He is here in connection with a function being organised tomorrow, in which Prime Minister A B Vajpayee will lay the foundation stone for an integrated highway project.

Thambidurai said duty could be levied ex-factory on automobile manufacturers, who, he stressed, should also come forward to contribute. The surface transport ministry, he said, had also recommended to the finance ministry to provide duty exemptions for equipment imported for building and developing roads and it had been accepted.

He said under the national integrated highway project, a six-lane highway involving 7,000 km from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Saurashtra to Cachar, would bedeveloped with a provision to convert it into express highways later.