NEW DELHI: Facing criticism over the quality of highway construction, with contractors bagging projects at abnormally low costs cited as one of the reasons, NHAI on Wednesday announced special inspections of 17 under-construction NH projects where bids were awarded at more than 15 per cent below the authority’s estimated cost.The first round of inspections will be completed by December, followed by a re-inspection of the identified projects six months later by a different team of experts to ensure quality and adherence to construction standards. NHAI said the inspections are in addition to its regular quality checks and are aimed at identifying any quality-related issues at an early stage so that corrective action can be taken on time.The projects have been selected using three criteria — construction cost of more than Rs 500 crore, bid amount below at least 15 per cent of NHAI’s estimated cost and physical progress between 35 per cent and 80 per cent. “These criteria help focus quality checks on projects that are at an important stage of construction and adopt an objective, data-driven approach,” the highways authority said.
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The projects include greenfield and access-controlled corridors, bypasses, as well as four and six laning works in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.NHAI said it has created a pool of experts for inspections. The inspections will be carried out by specialised teams led by 39 experienced and retired engineers from various govt organisations, including from road transport, railways and defence ministries and from state PWDs. Technical experts will also support the teams during the inspections.The highways authority said the teams will check construction work against approved drawings, technical specifications, contract conditions and project-specific quality plans. They will examine the quality of construction materials, workmanship, construction methods as well as records of sampling and testing. The inspections will also cover road safety measures, traffic management and environmental safeguards, wherever applicable. Any work that does not meet the required standards will be identified and followed up for corrective action as per the applicable contract provisions.
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