Road Transport Ministry to Engage Engineers India for Third-Party Highway Quality Checks
The move comes amid concerns over quality deficiencies in highway projects and instances of premature deterioration and failure of roads and expressways.
EIL, an engineering consultancy under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will initially be engaged for three years. Its mandate will cover around 770 km of expressways, 2,200 km of six-lane highways, and approximately 1,000 km each of four-lane and two-lane national highways.
The agency will inspect construction quality and verify compliance with the technical specifications and standards prescribed under the respective contracts.
The proposed third-party inspection mechanism follows a direction from the Prime Minister's Office earlier this year to introduce independent audits aimed at improving the quality of highway construction.
Currently, third-party quality checks are undertaken by independent quality auditors, including retired government engineers empanelled by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and other implementing agencies. The proposed arrangement follows concerns over the effectiveness of the existing quality-monitoring system and feedback received from independent auditors.
Engineers India has previously carried out third-party quality checks for highway projects, including during the construction of the Golden Quadrilateral, one of India's major highway development programmes.
The ministry's decision is aimed at strengthening independent quality oversight of national highway and expressway projects and addressing concerns over premature deterioration of road infrastructure.
Published on:
31 August 2026
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