No.

RW/NH-33044/10/2002-S&R (P&B)

Government of India

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

( S & R ( P & B ) Section)

Transport Bhawan, 0 1 , Parliament Street, New D e l h i - 1 1 0 001

Date: August 2 1 , 2 0 1 8

To,

1. The Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs.

2. The Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries of State/ Union Territories, Public Work

Departments (Dealing with National Highway, other centrally sponsored schemes and State

schemes).

3. All Engineer-in-Chief and Chief Engineers of Public Works Department of States/ Union

Territories dealing with National Highways, other centrally sponsored schemes.

4. The Chairman, NHAI, G - 5 & 6 , S ec t or-1 0, Dwarka, N e w - D e l h i - 1 1 0 0 7 5 .

5. The Managing Director, N H I D C L , PTI B u i l d i n g , New D e l h i - 1 1 0 0 0 1 .

6. The Director General (Border Roads), Seema Sadak Bhawan, Naraina, New D e l h i - 1 1 0 0 1 0 .

7. All CE-ROs, ROs and ELOs of the Ministry.

Subject: Defect Liability/ Maintenance Period for the National Highways and centrally

sponsored Road & Bridge works to be implemented on EPC mode -

Amendment - reg.

Sir,

This is in supersession of all the previous circulars related to defect liability I

maintenance period of all the National Highways and centrally sponsored Road & Bridge works

to be implemented on EPC mode, including the works of strengthening I IRQP I periodic

renewal etc.

2. The Ministry has already clarified vide its circular dated 23-02-2018 that all the civil

works including strengthening/lRQP/PR/pre-construction activities etc. costing more than Rs.

5 crore are to be classified as major works NH (M) and these are to be taken up on EPC or PPP

mode. Any relaxation for execution of NH (M) works in other than EPC or PPP mode shall be

with the approval of Secretary (RT&H) with concurrence from IFD.

3. Works for development of National Highways facilities

3.1 The flexible pavement is to be designed for 1 5 / 2 0 years period and rigid pavement for

30 years design life and shall accordingly be stipulated in Schedule B of Concession Agreement.

The Defect Liability Period/Maintenance Period for the development of national highways shall

be as under:

(i) 5 years from the date of completion in case of road being constructed with Flexible

pavement;

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 No. RW/NH-33044/10/2002-S&R (P&B)

Government of India

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

(S&R (P&B) Section)

Transport Bhawan, 0 1 , Parliament Street, New D e l h i - 1 1 0 001

(ii) 10 years from the date of completion in case of road being constructed with Rigid

pavement;

(iii) 10 years from the date of completion for the stretches where new technology I

material has been/is proposed to be used

3.2 The civil works cost estimates for implementing the project on EPC mode shall also

include the maintenance cost to be incurred by the Contractor during the Defect Liability I

Maintenance period in all estimates for development of National Highway facilities. No

separate payment is to be made to the Contractor for carrying out maintenance works during

defect liability period/ maintenance period. The payment to be made to the Contractor during

construction and Defect Liability Period s h a l l be released in the following m a n n e r : -

(i) Payment during construction period - 90% of the total civil works cost.

(ii) Payment after three years of construction in case of Flexible pavements and

after 5 years in case of Rigid Pavements - 5 % of total civil works cost linking

with performance parameters.

(iii) Payment on completion of Defect Liability Period- 5% of total civil works cost

linking with performance parameters qua the attendance to the Defects.

4. For the renewal/ IRQP works.

4.1 As far as possible, the National Highways shall be designed and developed for longer

design life as mentioned in para 3 . 1 above. However, the renewal works may be required due

to oxidation of the bitumen in the wearing coat of properly designed Highways after a time

gap of about 5-6 years. Depending upon the riding quality, all stretches designed with 15-20

years life and developed with flexible pavement s h a l l be renewed at intervals of every 6 or 7

years by preferably using hot-in-place recycling of the entire layer of bituminous concrete

( B C ) . In case, hot-in-place recycling is not feasible due to non-availability of equipment e t c . , a

renewal layer of 40mm BC shall be laid. The defect liability period /maintenance period in

such cases shall be three years.

4.2 Situations warranting Renewal/Improvement of Riding Quality (IRQ) works shall be as

follows:

Case 1 : In case renewal is required either due to oxidation of the bitumen or attrition

in the wearing coat, it should preferably be renewed by hot-in-place recycling of

entire layer of bituminous concrete. In case hot-in-place recycling is not feasible due

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No. RW/NH-33044/10/2002-S&R (P&B)

Government of I n d i a

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

(S&R ( P & B ) Section)

Transport Bhawan, 0 1 , Parliament Street, New D e l h i - 1 1 0 001

to non-availability of machine e t c . , a fresh layer of b i t u m i n o u s concrete with 40mm

thickness shall be laid. The defect liability period/maintenance period in such cases

shall be three years.

Case 2: Where the stretch requires improvement to riding quality in cases other than

those in case 1 , it can be done by laying a layer of DBM/BM and/or B C / S D B C . In such

cases also, the defect liability period/maintenance period shall be three years.

5. This issue with the approval of the Competent Authority.

Yours faithfully,

(Raj Kumar)

Assistant Executive Engineer, S&R(P&B)

For Director General (Road Development) & Special Secretary

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