The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has announced a new policy limiting consultancy firms to a maximum of ten projects per engineer for the supervision of national highway construction and maintenance works. The move, which comes into effect after a 60-day transition period, aims to ensure better compliance with project specifications and improve the quality of oversight.
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NHAI observed that many consultancy firms currently assign an excessive number of projects to a single designated engineer, potentially compromising the quality of monitoring and contractual compliance. To address this, detailed clauses have been incorporated in the guidelines for projects executed under the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) mode. These include provisions for appointing Independent or Authority Engineers, and assigning clear responsibilities.
As per the updated norms, each designated engineer must visit their assigned project site at least once a month and submit inputs for the Monthly Progress Report in accordance with the consultancy and civil contract provisions. NHAI emphasized that this cap is crucial to ensuring that engineers are not overstretched and can maintain the qualitative and quantitative standards expected in infrastructure supervision.
NHAI
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is an autonomous agency under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, responsible for the development, maintenance, and management of India’s national highway network. Established in 1995, NHAI plays a key role in implementing major highway projects, including the Bharatmala and Golden Quadrilateral programmes.
