National Highway Authority of India has made drones mandatory for monthly video recording of National Highway projects at all development, construction, operation, and maintenance stages. This step is taken to improve transparency and consistency and to take advantage of the latest technologies.
Contractors and concessionaires are required to make drone video recordings in the presence of the head of the supervisory advisory team and upload comparative videos of the current and last month to the NHAI’s ‘Data Lake’ portal to capture various developments related to the project during the month.
The videos are permanently stored in the ‘Data Lake’ and can also be used as evidence in dispute settlement proceedings before courts and arbitration tribunals.
The supervisory consultants analyse these videos and provide feedback on the digital monthly progress reports on various aspects of project development.
These videos are also to be used by NHAI officials during the physical inspection of the projects to review any discrepancies and corrections made based on the above observations.
In addition, the NHAI project managers conduct a monthly drone survey from the date the contract is signed until the start of the project setup and after the project has been completed.
NHAI will also conduct a monthly drone study on all developed projects where they are responsible for operations and maintenance.
Its strong focus on quality, technology and transparency will improve the overall quality and ensure the timely completion of national road projects, resulting in better maintenance of national roads, convenience and a better travel experience for road users.
Recently it introduced an independent inspection of ongoing national highway projects involving prominent retired government officials. These reviews are in addition to the regular project reviews by NHAI officials.
In addition, the use of Network Survey Vehicles (NSV) to conduct road surveys on federal highways to improve quality has become a mandatory requirement. Related technologies such as 360-degree digital cameras and street laser profilers are used to measure road damage.