New Delhi: In a major change in the policy, the government has extended the time limit for construction of 6-10 km long bridges on rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra to six years and 2.5-6 km long bridges on Mahanadi and Godavari to five years. The time frame has been revised from the current 24-30 months.Similarly, the construction period has been fixed at two years for national highway projects costing up to Rs 500 crore, 30 months for projects costing Rs 500-1,500 crore and three years for works costing more than Rs 1,500 crore.The change in the ‘standard construction period’ has been made after a gap of 13 years, learning from past experience how the average time taken to complete NH projects has increased to more than four years against the standard timeline of 2.5-3 years. The revised construction deadline will be applicable to all NH projects to be bid from May 6.In a circular, the road transport ministry said the current guidelines – issued in 2013 – are derived from a legacy linear model that clearly does not account for heavy earthwork, leading to unrealistic construction periods and resulting in additional costs and risks.“Therefore, a need was felt to revise the existing guidelines based on scientific analysis, understanding of completed projects and to prescribe a realistic construction period for civil works at the DPR and bid invitation stage,” the ministry said. It said the new criteria will improve predictability in completion of projects, reduce disputes, enhance value and quality of NHs for realistic and bankable bids, result in better quality outcomes and improve investor confidence.The new norms make a time provision of an additional six months for critical projects that involve multiple flyovers, tunnels or tall structures. Similarly, an additional provision of 12 months has been made for projects involving cutting and slope stabilization in hilly states.
