Lockdown gives time for highway repairs before monsoon rains begin

Road construction was held up but India’s nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak allowed companies to repair highways before monsoon rains.

Companies took up road maintenance in May when the government eased the lockdown and allowed travel between states and within. “As far as pre-monsoon work is concerned, we were able to accomplish some maintenance related activities in the month of May. The full blown construction can begin only after the monsoons,” Jayant Mhaiskar Chairman and Managing Director of MEP Infrastructure, told Business Standard.

Experts said road construction peaks in the first quarter of the financial year but was held up this time in the lockdown. “The government taking cognizance of this has extended the contract period by up to six months. Things should retrace back to normalcy post monsoon, i.e. from the third quarter onwards. States which are not much exposed to monsoon, normalcy could resume by the end of second quarter,” said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, director and practice leader for transport and logistics at Crisil Infrastructure Advisory.

Last week, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) asked its regional officers and project directors to priortise maintenance of the national highways in lieu of ensuing monsoon season.

The aim is to facilitate timely action and keep the highway stretches traffic-worthy ahead of the monsoon season i.e. latest by June 30, 2020, the roads ministry had said.

NHAI also asked its regional offices to ensure thorough planning of the requisite activities and the implementation of the same in a time bound manner.

Regional Officers have been given financial powers to take quick decisions regarding maintenance activities. Project directors have been advised to assess the condition of highways by using technology-driven tools.

All field officers have asked to adhere to timelines, regularly monitor the progress of maintenance work and keep reporting the same to the Authority at regular intervals.

The NHAI headquarters will monitor progress through its project management software called Data Lake, where pictures of before and after repair works are uploaded, and other sources of information.