Lok Sabha Question No. 167 (STARRED), answered on 2025-07-31
Subject: Dilapidated Condition of National Highways
Ministry: ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
Asked by: Shri Sachithanantham R

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. *167 ANSWERED ON 31 st  JULY, 2025

## DILAPIDATED CONDITION OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

*167.  SHRI SACHITHANANTHAM R:

Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री

be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  measures  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  address  the dilapidated condition of the newly constructed National Highways and the timeline set for their repair; and
- (b) the number of complaints received so far during the financial year 2024-25 in this regard?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

- (a) and (b) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) and (b) OF LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  167  ANSWERED  ON  31.07.2025 ASKED  BY  SHRI  SACHITHANANTHAM  R  REGARDING  DILAPIDATED

CONDITION OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

(a)  and  (b)  Contractors  /  Concessionaires  are  responsible  for  design, development  and  maintenance  of  National  Highways  (NHs)  projects including rectification of defects during Defect Liability Period (DLP) / Concession Period after completion of the work implemented on either Engineering,  Procurement, and Construction  (EPC)  mode or on Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) mode or on Hybrid Annuity mode (HAM) as per provisions of relevant Standard Contract/ Concession Agreements.

All  efforts are made to ensure that the NHs are constructed as per stipulated quality standards specified in the Indian Roads Congress  (IRC)  specifications  and  codes.  To  ensure  that  highway construction  adheres  to  stipulated  quality  standards,  Consultants (Authority's Engineer/ Independent Engineers- AE/IE) are appointed by the executing  agencies  for  day-to-day  supervision  of   works  at  site. Officials  of  executing  agencies  undertake  inspections  from  time  to time and ensure adherence of conformity of quality of the work done by the Concessionaire/ Contractors with stipulated requirements.

Deficiencies  observed,  if  any,  are  brought  to  the  notice  of  the up  necessary  corrective/ remedial actions as stipulated  in technical schedules of the Contract/ Concession  Agreement  or  within  a  reasonable  period  as  decided  by

Concessionaires/  Contractors  for taking the executing agency / AE/ IE.

The Government has taken the following initiatives for improvement  of  quality  control  systems  in  implementation  of  NHs works: -

- i. Adoption of Automated & Intelligent /Machine-aided Construction (AI-MC) in NH projects;
2. ii.
3. Assessments of road conditions through Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) at the time of completion and every six months thereafter on an electronic platform; further revamping of NSV system  for
4. road  condition  assessment  using  analytics  and  enforcement  of contractual provisions during Operation and Maintenance (O&M) through dedicated central cell;
- iii. Operationalization of a centralized system called NHAI One App for Monitoring and rectification of highway defects which enables geo-tagging of defects along with photographs;
- iv. Analysis of High-Resolution Imagery collected from Drone Surveys in Drone Analytics Monitoring System (DAMS) integrated with Artificial Intelligence/ Machine  Learning  algorithms  for periodic evaluation of progress and quality of ongoing NHs works from time to time;
- v. Deployment  of  Mobile  Quality  Control  Vans  (MQCVs)  equipped with  Non-Destructive  Testing  Equipment  on  pilot  basis  in  four States, namely in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha and Karnataka, for diagnostic  assessments  of  overall  health  and  quality  of  works from time to time during project implementation phases;
- vi. Deployment  of  Third  Party  Quality  Auditors  for  independent quality audits of NH works on a case-to-case basis.

The Government through the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H)  has  established  system  of  receiving  complaints  through Public  Grievance  Portal,  various  Social  Media  Platforms  apart  from complaints received from other sources including from Public Representatives, etc., about various issues concerning National Highways  including  issues  related  to  quality  of  construction.  The Government  takes  cognizance  of  these  complaints  also  apart  from regular review and monitoring of NHs projects towards ensuring that necessary  corrective  actions  are  taken  up  by  the  Concessionaires  / Contractors for the NHs projects.

Actions  against  defaulting  agencies  are  taken  as  per  the provisions  of  the  Contract/  Concession  agreement  in  case  of  any agreement,  levying  of penalties/  liquidated  damages,  debarment/  blacklisting,  declaring  as defaults, such  as  termination  of contract non-performers etc.

As per the information provided by the executing agencies of MoRT&H, 81  Nos.  of  complaints  regarding  major  deficiencies/  damages  in  NH works have been received/ found during the last five years (including 2024-25)  and  current  Financial  Year  (excluding  complaints  received through  various  social  media  platforms/  public  grievance  portal). Necessary remedial works taken up for rectification of these deficiencies/ damages are at various stages of progress. Penal actions have been initiated against the Contractor/ Concessionaire / AE/IE, etc. as per relevant contractual provisions, wherever applicable.

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