NEW DELHI: In order to improve highway infrastructure, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approached renowned engineering colleges including IITs, NITs for adoption of stretches.
“The objective is to leverage the intellectual prudence of students and faculty towards improvement of road infrastructure ecosystem of the country” said NHAI in a statement.
The highway authority is already in touch with few directors in engineering institutes interested in the scheme are in touch with them and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between the
institute and NHAI.
“The Institutes along with its faculty and students have better appreciation of local requirement, topography, resource potential etc. and these vital inputs can be utilized by NHAI during different stages of pre-construction, construction, and operation of NH stretches” NHAI said further.
The NHAI hopes that the adoption of stretch by the Institutes will open avenue for access to important data, which can be used to improve the quality and safety aspects of national highways. Adoption of NH stretch by an institute would facilitate stakeholder engagement and help to mitigate the routine local problems such as traffic movement, congestion and immediate identification of accident-prone sites and overall make the highway commuter friendly.
“This decentralized approach, besides building a sense of participation in decision making, also provides an opportunity to the students for hands-on-learning, option for internship and future areas of research” added the statement.