Question : Maintenance of National Highways

(a) whether the Government proposes to resolve the problems related to road transport in the country and if so, the details threreof and the action taken in this regard;
(b) the funds spent for maintainence of National Highways (NHs) during the last three years and the current year, State-wise;
(c) the steps taken by the Government to ensure minimum guarantee of five years for newly constructed NHs in the State of Kerala and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government has assessed the loss incurred due to digging of NH roads for the maintenence and repair of utility services in the State;
(e) if so, the details of amount received from various utility service providers in the State during the said period and the expenditure incurred for the same; and
(f) whether the Government proposes to restore the roads in original condition in a time bound manner and if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)
(a) The Ministry is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs). The Ministry took up development of NHs / roads in the country under various phases of National Highways Development Project (NHDP), Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North East Region (SARDP-NE) including Arunachal Pradesh Package of Roads, Special Programme for Development of Roads in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas, Externally Aided Projects (EAP), National Highways (Original) [NH (O)] scheme, etc. Various phases of NHDP envisaged development of NHs to 4/6 lane and 2 lane NH standards, development of expressways, etc. Development of most of the roads/ NHs under other schemes envisages their upgradation to 2 lane NH standards.
Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase–I, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 24.10.2017, includes development of 24,800 km length of Greenfield Expressways / Access Controlled Highways / Economic Corridors, Inter-corridor and feeder roads including National Corridors Efficiency improvement projects, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and port connectivity roads and balance approximately 10,000 km subsumed under National Highways Development Projects (NHDP).
A network of 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) is planned to be developed as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP). Of this, MMLPs at 15 prioritised locations are targeted for development under Phase I of Bharatmala Pariyojana with a total investment of about Rs. 22,000 crore. Development of MMLP in Jogigopha, Assam has been taken up and is targeted for completion by December, 2022. Bids have also been invited for 2 MMLPs i.e., Wardha (Nagpur) and Chennai. Bids for MMLPs at Bangalore and Indore are planned for invitation by FY22-23
43,270 km of NHs has been constructed during last 3 years and current year in country. As on 28.02.2022, NHs projects have been taken up in about 63,300 km length costing Rs. 10.62 lakh crore.
Under a scheme for “Strengthening Public Transport System in the Country” Ministry provides financial assistance to State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) for IT related projects such as GPS/ GSM based vehicle tracking system, computerized reservation system, automatic fare collection system, electronic ticket vending machines, inter-modal fare integration, passenger information system. Ministry provides one-time financial assistance to the tune of 50% of the project cost to States/ Union Territories (UTs) for IT related projects.
(b) The State/ UT-wise and year-wise details of funds allocated / released and expenditure incurred for maintenance and repair of NHs during last three years and current year is at Annexure.
(c) The Ministry has prescribed five years period as defect liability period for flexible pavement and ten years for rigid pavement / standalone structures / of road constructed with flexible pavement using perpetual design for all development works on Engineering, Procurement and Contract (EPC) mode in the country including in the state of Kerala. For NHs projects implemented under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT)/ Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) mode, maintenance / rectification of defects are the responsibility of the Concessionaire till the end of the Concession Period.
(d) to (f) The Ministry issued detailed circular regarding laying of utility services along and across the NHs, which inter-alia provides for:-
(i) Undertaking of all required restoration, maintenance work subsequent to laying of utility services by the Utility Service provider at its cost either by itself or through its authorized representative in consultation with the Executing Agencies as per predetermined time schedule and quality standards.
(ii) Responsibility assigned for Utility Service provider for restoration of ground in terms of filling/ satisfactory compaction without causing damages to other underground installations/ utility services & avoiding interference, interruption, disruption or failure caused thereof to any services etc.
(iii) Rectification by the executing agency to make good the damages caused by excavation, at the cost of the Utility Service provider and recover the amount by forfeiture of the Bank Guarantee in case the Utility Service provider / Licensee fails to rectify the same.
All Agencies entrusted with NHs works are required to ensure necessary compliances accordingly from time to time.