The Prime Minister’s Office has directed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Railways to introduce independent third party audits to strengthen quality control in highway and railway projects and reduce delays in execution.
The road transport ministry has also been asked to study construction practices followed during the Golden Quadrilateral programme, which saw very few quality related complaints. International practices such as independent audits in Indonesia and external audits introduced in Malaysia will also be examined.
Both ministries have been directed to improve corridor speeds. The road transport ministry will identify constraints that keep average freight truck speeds at around 50 kmph on high speed corridors against the desired 70 kmph.
The railway ministry will set phased targets to increase train speeds from 110 kmph to 130 kmph, then to 160 kmph and eventually above 200 kmph. Officials said the next phase of highway development will include more expressways and economic corridors, making stronger quality monitoring essential.
