The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, through the NHAI, has implemented a policy restricting consultancy firm engineers to a maximum of ten projects each when supervising the construction or maintenance of National Highway projects. This measure aims to improve the quality and supervision of these projects by ensuring engineers can adequately fulfill their contractual obligations and provide thorough monitoring. The policy, which includes detailed clauses for projects implemented via Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) modes, mandates monthly site visits and contributions to progress reports by designated engineers. The restriction will take effect in 60 days, allowing firms to adjust. The goal is to enhance operational efficiency, ensure high-quality highway implementation and maintenance, and improve the safety and smoothness of travel on national highways.
Key Entities Referenced
Ministry of Road Transport Highways: Government ministry responsible for road transport and highways.
NHAI: National Highways Authority of India, the agency responsible for the development, maintenance and management of National Highways in India.
National Highway projects: Road construction and maintenance projects undertaken on National Highways.
Independent Engineer: Consultancy firm role involved in supervising National Highway projects.
Authority Engineer: Consultancy firm role involved in supervising National Highway projects.
Supervision Consultant: Consultancy firm role involved in supervising National Highway projects.
Consultants team: Group of experts responsible for compliance of specifications and contract provisions of projects.
Hybrid Annuity Mode HAM: A model for implementing and maintaining National Highway projects.
Engineering, Procurement, and Construction EPC: A model for implementing and maintaining National Highway projects.
Monthly Progress Report: Report documenting the progress of the project, with inputs from the designated engineer.
GDHHR Release ID: 2135941: Unique identifier for the press release.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
NHAI Restricts Number of Projects per Engineer for
Consultancy Firms
Posted On: 12 JUN 2025 4:41PM by PIB Delhi
To enhance quality and supervision mechanism of the National Highway projects, NHAI has restricted the
maximum number of 10 projects per ‘Engineer’ for the consultancy firms for supervision of construction or
maintenance of National Highway projects. It was observed that the Consultancy Firms working as
Independent Engineer, Authority Engineer or Supervision Consultant are assigning supervision obligations of
many projects to a designated ‘Engineer’.
The compliance of specifications and contract provisions is primarily controlled and supervised by the
Consultant’s team through the designated ‘Engineer’ assigned to a particular project. Due to more number of
projects in hand, the designated ‘Engineer’ may not be able to fulfil contractual obligations, defeating the
purpose of qualitative and quantitative monitoring of the projects.
Detailed clauses have also been included in the guidelines for consultancy firms implementing and
maintaining National Highway projects on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and Engineering, Procurement, and
Construction (EPC) mode. The clauses include provisions for the appointment of Independent
Engineers/Authority Engineers and Delegation of responsibilities.
The designated ‘Engineer’ from the Consulting firm is required to visit the assigned project site every month
and provide inputs in the Monthly Progress Report as per Consultancy and Civil contract provisions. The
restriction of a maximum of Ten projects per ‘Engineer’ shall come into effect after 60 days, providing time to
the Consultancy firms to make appropriate adjustments in this period.
Restricting the maximum number of projects per ‘Engineer’ will not only enhance operational efficiency and
ensure high quality implementation as well as maintenance of highways but will also go a long way to ensure
safe, smooth, and seamless travel experience on the National Highways across the country.
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GDH/HR
(Release ID: 2135941)