NEW DELHI: Facing criticism for poor maintenance of highway stretches and the bad riding quality caused by potholes and cracks, the NHAI on Wednesday launched a mechanism to rate contractors engaged in the operation and maintenance of such stretches. Contractors scoring less than 60 out of 100 will be declared “non-performers”, reducing their chances of securing new projects.
The scores and ratings will be based on an objective assessment of five main parameters: roughness, potholes, rut depth, surface cracking, patchwork, and ravelling (dislodging of coarse aggregate on the surface). They will be uploaded on the NHAI website and its social media handles, which, officials said, is aimed at encouraging contractors to improve their performance.
The focus on
highway maintenance
has gained significance, considering that over the past 10 years, approximately 95,000 km of national highways and expressways have been widened or constructed.
NHAI will deploy network survey vehicles (NSVs) fitted with cameras and sensors on the NH network to assess the condition. Officials said the NSVs will capture details of every 100 meters of the NH and the data will be transferred to a central database automatically within 48 hours for processing and actions.
Officials said that to begin with 21,000 km of network under NHAI will be covered and in the next phase another 24,000 km will be brought under this regime. They added that the NSVs will cover every NH stretch once in six months.
TOI has learnt that at present 7-8 NSVs are deployed for collecting and feeding data into the system, but till now this was being done manually. “In the new system we will have no manual intervention as the 3D details will be captured by cameras and sensors. This data will be transferred seamlessly and it will be processed within 10 days. Subsequently, the system will generate notices for the contractors concerned for taking corrective action. Colour codes will be used for faster action. We have deployed specialised manpower for this as well,” an official said.
Sources said if the contractors don’t improve the road condition within the specific timeline, NHAI will carry out improvement and recover the cost from such players.
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