New Delhi, Oct. 13 :    New Delhi, Oct. 13:  The US strikes against terrorism may have squelched funding prospects in various sectors, but the National Highway Authority of India isn't worried because it has found a saviour in Life Insurance Corporation of India which is likely to invest Rs 4,000 crore in the Golden Quadrilateral road project. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's dream project of four-laning roads and connecting the four major metros-Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai-by 2004 seems to be on schedule. The minister of state for roads and highways Maj Gen (Retd) B.C. Khanduri is keen that the project be completed before schedule and has advanced the target date by a year. 'We will not be affected by the current crisis. We had planned to raise about Rs 8,000-10,000 crore for the project during 2002-2003. About Rs 4,000-5,000 crore would come from a cess on diesel and we were expecting to raise the rest from the market, but the market's situation is known. So we approached LIC and they are keen to invest in the project,' said Khanduri. 'Till now, we have raised about Rs 700 crore from the market through the open ended bonds till March 31, 2002. But we are likely to get about Rs 3,000-4,000 crore from LIC so funds for the next financial year are already in place,' he added. The ministry of roads and highways is also optimistic that private investment in 5,952 km roads under the Golden Quadrilateral project and the 7,300 km north-south and east-west corridors will not be affected by the current crisis. The Golden Quadrilateral project is estimated to cost about Rs 25,055 crore while the corridors would cost about Rs 30,000 crore which is to be completed by year 2007. 'Only Rs 4,000 crore worth of projects have been planned to be given to private sector out of the total Rs 55,055 crore worth of projects. As a result, we will not face any major problem in completing the projects in time,' said Khanduri. He added: 'Till July, we had given 118 contracts for the two major projects. Out of this, 77 have been awarded to Indian firms, 32 are with joint venture firms and only nine have been given to foreign companies. This is expected to ensure continuity of projects and faster completion.' The ministry is also planning to set up highway patrols is association with state governments. A model project is already being undertaken on Delhi-Jaipur highway.