NHAI makes drone survey mandatory for all national highway projects

Project directors will undertake monthly drone surveys from the date of signing contract till start of construction on site, as well as after completion of the project

In order to enhance transparency and uniformity as well as leverage latest technology, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has made use of drones mandatory for monthly video-recording of national highway projects during all stages of development -- construction, operation and maintenance.

"Contractors and concessionaires will carry out the drone video-recording in presence of the team leader of the supervision consultant and upload comparative project videos of the current and previous month on NHAI’s portal ‘Data Lake’, capturing various project-related developments during the month," said a statement from the NHAI.

"Supervision consultants should analyse these videos and provide their comments on the digital monthly progress reports, covering various aspects of project development. These videos will also be used by NHAI officials during physical inspection of the projects to check for discrepancies and rectifications made on the basis of earlier observations," the statement added.

Additionally, NHAI project directors will undertake monthly drone surveys from the date of signing the contract till start of construction on site, as well as after completion of the project. Authorities will also undertake monthly drone surveys in all developed projects where NHAI is responsible for operation and maintenance, said the statement.

Since these videos will be permanently stored on ‘Data Lake’, they can also be used as evidence during dispute resolution before arbitral tribunals and courts.

Apart from this, mandatory deployment of Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs) will carry out road condition recces on national highways to enhance quality. NSVs use latest survey techniques such as high-resolution digital camera for 360-degree imagery, laser road profilometer and others, said the statement.