Lok Sabha Question No. 4786 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-21
Subject: Norms for Maintenance of NHs
Ministry: ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ashish Dubey

## be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  taking  any  steps  to  implement  the mandatory  five-year  maintenance  period  for  National  Highways (NHs), if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  the  mechanisms  that  would  be  established  to  ensure  that maintenance  responsibilities  are  fulfilled  without  compromising  in quality and to prevent contractors from cutting costs therein; and
- (c) the measures that would be taken to make maintenance records and quality assessments transparent and accessible to the public?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

- (a) The  Government  has  prioritized  the  maintenance  of  existing National Highways (NH) network and inter-alia evolved a mechanism  to  ensure  Maintenance  and  Repair  (M&R)  of  all  NHs sections through accountable maintenance agency.

NHs  development  projects  are  executed  on  mainly  three modes i.e. (i) Build Operate and Transfer (BOT), (ii) Hybrid Annuity Model  (HAM)  and  (iii)  Engineering  Procurement  and  Construction

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4786 ANSWERED ON 21 ST  AUGUST, 2025

## NORMS FOR MAINTENANCE OF NHS

†4786.   SHRI ASHISH DUBEY:

## Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री

(EPC).  Concession  period  including  maintenance  for  projects  on Build  Operate and Transfer (BOT) is 15 to 20 years and on Hybrid Annuity  Model  (HAM)  is  generally  15  years.   Concessionaire  is responsible for maintenance of the respective NHs stretches within the concession period of the project. Only in case of EPC projects, Defect Liability Period (DLP) is 5 years for the bituminous pavement works and 10 years for concrete pavement works.

For Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) and InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) projects, concession period including maintenance is 20 to  30  years.  Concession  period  for  Projects  on Operate, Maintain and Transfer (OMT) is generally 9 years.

For  all  remaining  sections  of  NHs  stretches,  where  DLP  has ended or is not under any concession period of BOT/HAM/TOT/InvIT project, Government  has  taken  a  policy  decision  to  undertake maintenance works through Performance Based Maintenance Contract (PBMC) or Short Term Maintenance Contract (STMC). While STMC works are generally undertaken for a contract period of 1-2 year, PBMC works are undertaken for a contract period of about 5-7 years.

(b) and (c) Repair of identified defects / issues in the road condition as well as other maintenance / repair works are completed by the Contractor  /  Concessionaire  within  the  stipulated  timeline  as  per provisions  of  the  Contract.  Compliance  is  ensured  through  regular field  reports  and  penalty  provisions  incorporated  in  the  Contract documents for action against defaulting Contractor / Concessionaire.

The Government has initiated monitoring of the quality including defect rectification in NHs projects through mobile based application named as NHAI One / Tatpar.  This app is used by Field officers  /  Engineers  /  Contractors  /  Concessionaires  directly  from onsite,  through  digital  reporting  of  daily  and  monthly  defects, submission of geo-tagged and time-stamped photos for inspections and digital uploading of test results.

The Government has taken the initiatives for improvement of quality  control  systems  in  implementation  of  NHs  works,  some  of which are as stated below: -

- i. Adoption of Automated & Intelligent / Machine-aided Construction (AI-MC) in NH projects;
- ii. Mandatory  assessments  of  road  conditions  through  Network Survey  Vehicle  (NSV)  before  start  of  work,  before  issue  of completion certificate and thereafter at regular intervals of six months  after  completion  of  the  work;  Further  revamping  of NSV  system for  road  condition  assessment  using  analytics and  enforcement  of  contractual  provisions  during  Operation and Maintenance (O&M) through dedicated central cell;
- iii. 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;
- iv. 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;
- v. Deployment  of  Third  Party  Quality  Auditors  for  independent quality audits of NH works on a case-to-case basis.

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