A committee constituted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed timelines for completion of civil construction works on national highways awarded on Engineering Procurement and Construction mode.
In November last year, the MoRTH issued instructions that all national highway projects, projects under Special Accelerated Road Development Programme – North East and projects in Left Wing Extremism affected areas for widening to two-lane standards with or without paved shoulders, as well as strengthening projects, new bypasses and standalone bridge and flyover projects would be awarded on EPC mode only.
The objective behind the shift to EPC mode is to ensure implementation of projects to specified standards, avoid cost and time over runs and transfer the construction risks to the private sector.
In a letter dated 16th July, 2013, addressed to all states, the National Highways Authority of India and the Border Roads Organisation, the MoRTH said that the timelines proposed by the committee were for reference only and implementing agencies in consultation with the project chief engineers could fix time limit for individual works keeping in view the committee’s guidelines, project specific requirements and provisions of the contract agreement. During rainy season, an allowance of two months in case of plain areas and three months for difficult areas has been provided. The compatibility of the timelines needs to be assessed considering the provisions and output of machineries in accordance with the relevant clauses in the MoRTH standard data book for such activities.
| Timelines for completion of civil construction works on national highways awarded on EPC mode | ||||
| Activity | Time required for completion of civil work | Time for mobilization | ||
| Periodic Renewal | 3 days/km. up to a max. limit of 3 months | 45 days for plain areas
60 days for difficult areas |
||
| Improvement of Riding Quality Programme | 6 days/km. up to a max. limit of 6 months | |||
| Strengthening (with bituminous layer) | 12 days/km. up to a max. limit of 12 months | 60 days for plain areas
75 days for difficult areas |
||
| Widening and strengthening | 18 days/km. up to a max. limit of 18 months | |||
| Minor bridges (stand alone) with approaches | 1. < 30 m.
2. > 30 m. |
For plain areas
12 months 18 months |
For difficult areas
18 months 24 months |
2 months for plain areas
3 months for difficult areas |
| Major bridges (stand alone) with approaches | 1. 60 – 100 m.
2. > 100 m. |
For plain areas
24 months 30 months |
For difficult areas
30 months 36 months |
3 months for plain areas
4 months for difficult areas |
| ***Difficult areas include LWE areas, North-East areas and hilly areas | ||||
| Source: MoRTH | ||||
