New Delhi: The average annual construction of National Highways has jumped by a massive 130 per cent during 2014-2024, as compared to the previous 10 years from 2004-2014, and has taken the length of those coming up in the last 10 years to 1,01,900 km, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told the Parliament on Thursday.
Presently 1,366 projects having a total length of about 32,366 km are under construction in the entire country, including in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and all northeastern states, without attaining any of the various stages of project completion and excluding projects under consideration for termination/foreclosure. Most of these projects are targeted to be completed in phases by the financial year 2028, the minister said in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
In an answer to another question, the minister said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken up one pilot project of the Automated & Intelligent Machine-aided Construction (AIMC) system in Lucknow-Kanpur Greenfield Expressway Project, wherein machines such as GPS-aided motor grader, Intelligent Compactor and stringless paver have been used.
Envisaged advantages of AIMC are savings in time of construction without compromising the quality of construction, increased productivity, real-time digital documentation & monitoring and better control on quality parameters such as smooth levelled surface, adequately & uniformly compacted surface, Gadkari said.
The government has taken up the initiative for finalising policy for use of AIMC for National Highway projects, he further stated.
The minister said that construction works on National Highways are carried out as per the standards including quality and safety standards specified by the government for road and bridge works and Indian Roads Congress (IRC) codes, guidelines and special publications. It is the primary responsibility of the contractor/concessionaire to execute the works adhering to such specifications and standards.
The requirement of road safety is also taken care of in all stages of the project cycle including design, construction, operation and maintenance. The road safety audit is carried out at the design stage of NH improvement and upgradation projects to ensure that the design meets the safety standards. During the construction stage, construction zone safety measures are provided for safe movement of traffic. During the operation stage, a road safety audit is periodically carried out to ensure that the road safety measures as originally provided are in proper shape and to assess the additional requirement of safety measures, if any, the minister said.
To ensure that the works are executed as per prescribed specifications and standards by the contractor/concessionaire, consultants (authority’s engineer/independent engineer) are appointed. Officials of executing agencies also carry out quality checks of the works on a random basis. In some specific works, executing agencies also engage third-party quality auditors. Deficiencies, if any, observed during such inspection are brought to the notice of the concessionaire/contractor for necessary rectification, he added.
(IANS)
