NEW DELHI: As concerns rise over deficiencies in quality of work and premature failures in expressways and NH projects, the road transport ministry will engage a third-party inspection agency (TPIA) for inspection and examination of around 5,000 km of expressways and highway stretches from the start of construction until project completion.

The agency will initially be engaged for a period of three years.TOI has learnt that the ministry has decided to onboard Engineers India Ltd (EIL), an engineering consultancy under the petroleum ministry. The agency will audit mainly expressways, six-lane and four-lane national highways.At present, third-party quality audits are conducted through independent quality auditors, who are mostly retired govt engineers empanelled by NHAI and other agencies.

EIL had earlier carried out the task of third-party quality check during the construction of the Golden Quadrilateral, the country’s first flagship highway development programme under the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.In recent years, increased instances of deficiencies in NH projects have become a cause of concern, as these have attracted criticism from the public.

Officials said the latest move was needed given the poor feedback from the independent auditors.

The agency will be tasked with inspecting 770 km of expressways, 2,200km of six-lane highways, and another 1,000km each of NHs that are four and two lanes.Earlier this year, PMO had directed the road transport ministry to introduce independent third-party audits to ensure high-quality work.As per the plan, Engineers India Ltd’s scope will be “limited to inspection and examination” of quality of work by verifying the compliance of technical specifications and standards as per contract.