NHAI mandates drone surveillance for all highway projects

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has made the use of drones mandatory for monthly video recordings of all national highway projects through different stages of construction, development, operation and maintenance. NHAI made it compulsory for the contractors and concessionaires to carry out the drone video recording in the presence of the supervision consultant and upload a comparative of the current and previous month on NHAI’s portal ‘Data Lake’, incorporating all project-related developments in a month. Supervision consultants will examine these video recordings and give their inputs or comments in the digital monthly progress reports incorporating several viewpoints of the project development. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) told the media that the project directors of NHAI would begin the monthly drone survey from the date of signing of the contract agreement till the commencement of construction of the project at site and on fulfilment of the project. NHAI will also begin monthly drone surveys in all developed projects where NHAI is accountable for operation and maintenance. Additionally, mandatory deployment of a Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) to carry out a road condition survey on national highways will improve the overall quality of the Highways as NSV uses the latest survey methods such as a high resolution digital camera for 360-degree imagery, Laser Road Profilometer and other latest technology for the estimation of danger in the road surface. Image Source Also read: Drones to monitor Ganga pollution in Uttar Pradesh Also read: Drones: A valuable tool for the construction jobsite