Highways ministry to adopt quality tendering process

New Delhi: The highways ministry will shift to quality-cum-cost based system for the selection of bids for various road construction-related projects in place of the age-old least-cost selection process, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

The move is aimed at improving the quality of various infrastructure-related works in the country, the minister said at an event organised by the International Road Federation (IRF). Gadkari further said road engineering solutions must be taken care of while preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPR). “The road ministry will soon be adopting a qualitative tendering process instead of the least cost bidding process to bring in quality and road safety in various projects. “Qualitative tendering will help incorporate road safety features in designs keeping in mind the behaviour of the road users,” the Road Transport and Highways minister said. Gadkari said bad road engineering is the biggest culprit for increasing road accidents in the country. Elaborating further, he said a road safety audit of seven roads was conducted in the country recently. About 57 engineering shortcomings were found on the Pune-Mumbai expressway alone while certain defects were observed in other road projects. Speaking at the event, IRF president emeritus K K Kapila said promoting a safe transportation system requires a holistic approach including engineering of roads, engineering of vehicles, enforcement, education and emergency care.