National Standards in road sector should align with Global Standards, says Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari has suggested that the national standards for design, construction, maintenance and operation of roads, bridges and flyovers should align with the global standards to bring down the cost of construction while maintaining high standards of quality. He was speaking at the inaugural session of a workshop cum exhibition on ‘adoption of innovative technologies and materials for road construction in India’ organized by Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE) and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in association with the World Bank at Noida near Delhi today. The Minister said that an appropriate scientific approach towards quality construction, time bound solutions and road safety would certainly lower the number of road accidents. “Engineering and research part of our planning should be inclusive of all types of new and innovative technologies”, he added. He further added that as the priority of the Government lies in the development of infrastructure, an in-depth study of the gaps between international and national standards is required immediately. He reiterated that a proper person at proper place scripts a successful management story; therefore people who are interested in innovation should be encouraged at all levels. He also underlined the necessity to launch a portal for bank of ideas on road constructions. Shri Gadkari emphasized on use of locally available materials in road construction sector to bring down the cost. He added that there is need to reduce the time for completion of projects, particularly in extremism affected areas through use of pre-fabricated and innovative technologies. Earlier speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Road Transport & Highways, Shri Vijay Chhibber said that India has a large pool of talent; the need is to transport knowledge from lab to field. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has issued guidelines that the new/alternative materials/technologies proven in India or abroad shall be deemed to be accredited for adoption in the highway sector, subject to the conditions that the developers/promoters of new/alternative materials/technologies shall have to provide the standards & specifications and certified performance reports from the user agencies of major developed countries where the proposed materials/techniques have been successfully used to the executing agency to establish their suitability for adoption. It is further envisaged that the developers/promoters shall strive to establish permanent base in India and show long term commitment to the goal of innovative infrastructure development in India.