Lok Sabha Question No. 2000 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-31
Subject: Audit of Newly Constructed NHs
Ministry: ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
Asked by: Shri Benny Behanan

be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  conducted  or  plans  to  conduct  any Nation wide audit of newly constructed National Highways (NH) that have shown early signs of damage;
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  of  NHs  where  such  deficiencies  have  been reported, State-Wise including Kerala;
- (c) whether the Government maintains a database of highway stretches failing within two years of construction and their contractors, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the measures being taken to prevent such recurring damage across the country?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d)    All efforts are made to ensure that the National Highways (NHs) are constructed as per stipulated quality standards specified in

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2000

ANSWERED ON 31 ST  JULY, 2025

## AUDIT OF NEWLY CONSTRUCTED NHs

## 2000.  SHRI BENNY BEHANAN:

## Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री

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 supervision of works at site. Officials of executing agencies undertake inspections from time to time and ensure adherence of conformity of quality of the stipulated appointed by the executing agencies for day-to-day work done by the Concessionaire/ Contractors with requirements.

Assessments of road conditions through Network Survey Vehicle (NSV)  has  been  mandated  for  all  NHs  and  Expressway  works  at  the is monitored through electronic platform. NSV system  for road condition assessment  has  been  revamped  using  analytics  for  enforcement  of and  Maintenance  (O&M)

time of completion and every six months  thereafter, which contractual provisions during Operation through dedicated central cell.

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 additionally 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;
- ii. 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;
- iii. Analysis of High-Resolution Imagery collected from Drone Surveys in Drone Analytics Monitoring System (DAMS) integrated
4. 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.

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, 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, 81 Nos. of complaints regarding major deficiencies/ damages in NH works have been received/ found during the last five years (including 202425) and current Financial Year (excluding complaints received through various social media platforms/ public grievance portal); State/ Union

Territory (UT) wise details of such deficiencies including for the State of Kerala is annexed.

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.

## ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2000 ANSWERED ON 31 ST   JULY 2025  ASKED  BY  SHRI  BENNY  BEHANAN  REGARDING  AUDIT  OF NEWLY CONSTRUCTED NHs.

State/ Union Territory (UT) wise List of projects where major deficiencies/ damages in NH works have been received/ found during the last five years (including 2024-25) and current Financial Year:

|   S. No. | State/ UT         |   No. of Projects | NH No.                                                                                                                                                 | Length of Projects (in Km.)   |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
|        1 | Kerala            |                06 | NH-66                                                                                                                                                  | 205.298                       |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh    |                04 | NH-71, NH-16,NH-9, NH-4                                                                                                                                | 199.344                       |
|        3 | Bihar             |                02 | NH-31, NH-333B                                                                                                                                         | 74.749                        |
|        4 | Chattishgarh      |                03 | NH-130, New NH-30                                                                                                                                      | 126.525                       |
|        5 | Himachal Pradesh  |                01 | NH-22 (New NH-05)                                                                                                                                      | 39.139                        |
|        6 | Haryana           |                03 | NH-48, NE-4                                                                                                                                            | 61.7                          |
|        7 | Gujarat           |                05 | NE-4, NH-754K, NH-48                                                                                                                                   | 118.713                       |
|        8 | Jharkhand         |                01 | NH 75                                                                                                                                                  | 34                            |
|        9 | Karnataka         |                05 | NH-63, NH-48, NH-75                                                                                                                                    | 347.846                       |
|       10 | Arunachal Pradesh |                01 | NH-713A & NH-13                                                                                                                                        | Protection works              |
|       11 | Maharashtra       |                23 | NH-06 (New NH-53), NH-48, NH-66, NH-160, NH-848, NH-753L, NH-752G, NH-548C, NH-161A, NH-753F, NH-752K, NH-752H, NH-753, NH-160, NH-17, NH-166G, NH-266 | 1287.292                      |

|   S. No. | State/ UT                   |   No. of Projects | NH No.                               | Length of Projects (in Km.)   |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------|--------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
|       12 | Rajasthan                   |                12 | NE-4, NH-754K, NH-148N, NH-65, NH-89 | 325.173                       |
|       13 | Telangana                   |                01 | NH-161                               | 48.963                        |
|       14 | Uttar Pradesh               |                03 | Lucknow Ring Road, NH-76             | 92.618                        |
|       15 | Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand |                02 | NH-74                                | 165.709                       |
|       16 | Uttarakhand                 |                02 | NH-125, NH-134 (Old NH-94)           | 44.589                        |
|       17 | West Bengal                 |                03 | NH-32, NH-6, NH-34                   | 166.435                       |
|       18 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands   |                02 | NH-4                                 | 25 Km, 4 Minor Bridges        |
|       19 | Mizoram                     |                01 | NH-154 (New NH-6)                    | 27.98                         |
|       20 | Tripura                     |                01 | NH-208                               | 25.6                          |

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