NEW DELHI: A slew of steps are being taken to overhaul the highways sector, including a Rs 4,000-crore Metrino pilot project to decongest Delhi, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today said.This will be achieved through driverless pods between Delhi's Dhaula Kuan and Manesar.Also on the anvil is a new policy where those surrendering old cars would be incentivised to decongest traffic through less vehicles on roads."We are set to reform the highways sector. We want to do work worth Rs 5 lakh crore in 5 years... we are taking a number of initiatives to decongest the national capital and other areas. One such step, which could be revolutionary in this regard, will be Metrino project worth Rs 4,000 crore," Gadkari said at a PHD Chamber event here."We have taken a decision to introduce Metrino system on 70-km stretch from Dhaula Kuan to Manesar on the pattern of a ropeway. It will come down at the station and will run on electricity. While the capital cost of metro is Rs 250 crore per km, this will cost Rs 50 crore per km. We will begin work within six months. It's a pilot project."Under the project, fully automatic and driverless small vehicles known as pods will travel suspended under an overhead network.Gadkari said the work on Rs 6,000-crore ring road from Manesar to Eastern pass will take off soon, besides Dasna to Meerut highway being converted into 16 lanes."Once the ring road is complete, it will reduce the problem of traffic jam in Delhi by 30-40 per cent," he said.Elaborating on the new policy to clear up traffic, the Minister said people will be offered some financial incentives in lieu of return of their old vehicles to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads."We are formulating a new policy that whoever will surrender their old car, we will give some incentive to them. We will process the old cars in any industrial area and recycle their parts."We will give some money to them. They can buy a new car. On one new vehicle purchase, the government is benefited by Rs 95,000. We will encourage people to sell off their old cars," he added.Money has never been an issue for the Highways Ministry, Gadkari said, and it has earmarked 112 projects to be sold to foreign insurance and pension funds."We have 112 such projects which we have earmarked to sell to foreign insurance and pension funds. We are inviting investors from all over the world. We can get Rs 1 lakh crore by securitising these. Many foreign funds are ready to finance us Rs 2 to 3 lakh crore on 0.50 per cent," he said.Gadkari said, "We have Rs 42,000 crore budget. We can raise Rs 70,000 crore from tax exempted bonds besides we have annual toll collection of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore. If we securitise these for 15 years, we can get Rs 1,20,000 crore."The Minister said it was due to a number of initiatives (taken by the ministry) that about 95 per cent problems of projects worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore, which were stuck, could be solved.He said projects on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode were also picking up as in comparison to last year, when only five PPP projects could be rolled out. This fiscal, in the first three months alone, eight projects worth Rs 15,000 crore have been awarded.The Minister said that the government was committed to enhancing connectivity in the country and was building tunnels worth Rs 25,000 crore in Kashmir besides constructing tunnels at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore in Leh and Laddakh.All four pilgrimages in Uttarakhand would be connected through a new alignment of 1,000 km of roads and the government is also planning to build another bridge over Ganga at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore, he said.He said there is a need to promote environment-friendly fuel like ethanol and if the government is able to save at least Rs 2 lakh crore on import of crude which is worth Rs 8 lakh crore per annum, it will give a boost to economy.He said his Ministry is committed to contributing at least 2 per cent to the GDP besides aimed at reducing accidents by more more than 50 per cent in the next two years."Three lakh persons are crippled annually in 5 lakh road accidents, while another 1.5 lakh lost their lives. We are serious about reducing accidents. We will set up 5,000 centres across the country to issuing driving licenses based on computerised tests as 30 per cent of the licences in the country are bogus," the Minister said.Gadkari said the accidental spots and traffic jam spots were being identified and emphasised upon the development of alternative transport system to decongest traffic load from roads.He said that inland waterways are the future of country's transportation and India has huge potential in it. It will reduce the cost of transportation by around one-fifth as compared to other modes of transportation.The Minister called upon the Indian industrialists to deliberate upon indigenous technologies that can contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Make in India' and development of smart transportation system for 'Smart Cities'.G S Bali, Transport Minister, Government of Himachal Pradesh, Alok B Shriram, President, PHD Chamber were also present on the occasion.Gadkari also inaugurated 'Smart Transportation Infra Summit & Expo 2015', the theme of which is "Making 'Make in India' Happen in Traffic industry".