During the evaluation criteria, minus 30 marks is allocated against Catastrophic Failure, which would have impacted project and quality substantially, leads to loss of lives and lasting damage to road structure requiring re-construction. (Express file photo)
In a move to create deterrence against construction related failures, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has introduced stricter disqualification norms for Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) projects to prevent “catastrophic failures” caused by construction defects.
The circular, dated April 29, extends provisions earlier applied to Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects to HAM contracts as part of the ministry’s broader push to strengthen quality in national highway development.
HAM is a variant of the Public-Private Partnership model, where the government pay 40% of the project cost during construction and the balance 60% as annuity payments over the operations period.
According to the modified provision, the bidder with a record of catastrophic failure of any highway structure due to construction defects within the past two years from the bid due date may face disqualification in HAM project tenders. The clause applies to both ongoing and completed projects.
During the evaluation criteria, minus 30 marks is allocated against Catastrophic Failure, which would have impacted project and quality substantially, leads to loss of lives and lasting damage to road structure requiring re-construction.
According to MoRTH, the catastrophic failures are defined as collapse of any bridge or flyover or Underpass, embankment or pavement failure causing loss of serviceability of pavement, collapse of launching girder or staging leading to loss of life during construction period, collapse inside of the tunnel or human beings trapped for more than 72 hours during construction and failure of Pavement Quality Concrete (PQC).
The Ministry has directed that modified provisions should be incorporated into all ongoing and future HAM bid documents. Along with this, bidders will now be required to submit a undertaking declaring that neither they nor any consortium member has been involved in any catastrophic failure from construction defects during the specified period.
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In the last three years, major deficiencies in National Highway stretches have been reported for 67 projects. Currently in cases of damages to the highway structures, the actions such as termination of agreement, levying of penalties, debarment, blacklisting, declaring as non-performers etc. are taken against defaulting agencies.
