Expressway Authority to be launched

The Central government is in the process of setting up an Expressway Authority of India to oversee the development of a high speed road network across the country. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will very soon send a proposal to the Union Cabinet for its approval. A separate Expressway Authority has been necessitated by the fact that the National Highways Authority of India has been extremely burdened by the task of highway construction, leaving it little time for focussing on construction of specialised expressways. The body would have officials from the NHAI as well as experts from outside. The Authority?s mandate is to draw up guidelines for access-controlled road networks and play a regulatory role in construction of new expressways, several of which have been proposed by many state governments. It would also award expressway projects and conduct independent audits of the expressways as well.