Independent monitors to assess quality of national highways

The government plans to hire independent monitors to assess the quality of construction of national highway stretches following complaints of poor project work and delays.

"The ministry has been receiving complaints of poor quality works from various states. In order to have effective control on quality of works and completion schedule of projects, it is found prudent to have monitoring of the projects through independent monitors," according to an official Ministry of Road Transport and Highways document.

The ministry has decided to engage national project monitors to conduct quality tests of construction work, detect system flaws, monitor deterrent and punitive measures in respect of contractors and identify bottlenecks in projects and suggest ways to resolve them on time.

A ministry official said applications have been invited for engaging national project monitors by March 31.

The official said substandard work will have to be rectified by the agencies involved in construction of the project within the time specified by the ministry.

While the ministry is mainly responsible for the development and maintenance of national highways, projects are carried out through state public works departments, the National Highways Authority of India and the Border Roads Organisation as executing agencies.

Qualified chief engineers with experience in supervision of construction of road works and individuals with knowledge of specifications for road and bridge works with at least 10 years of experience in the highway sector are eligible to apply to become independent monitors.

India has 79,243 km of national highways, which constitute about 1.7% of the road network and carry about 40% of the total road traffic.