New Delhi, Sept 19: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has given great emphasis on development of road infrastructure especially National Highways in the country.
He has emphasized time and again that Capacity building both in government and private sector is imperative for sustainable development of road infrastructure for which instructions have been issued from time to time by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
MoRTH in January, 2022 had addressed the matter of capacity building process of technical professionals of Consultants, Contractors, Independent Engineers (IEs) and Authority Engineers (AEs).
In order to ensure the capacity building and improvement in quality of work done by personnel of Consultants, Contractors, IEs and AES in highways construction, the technical knowledge of personnel employed with private firms needs to be regularly updated.
However, capacity building and upgradation in private sector is generally not given much importance. As such, to enrich personnel from private sector MoRTH in Aug 2022 has decided that the personnel engaged by consultancy firms for preparation of DPRs have to undergo a mandatory training course on “Preparation of Feasibility Study and DPR for Highway Projects” conducted by Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE).
IAHE has successfully conducted the First Training Program for the personnel of consultant from 5th to 10th September 2022 at IAHE campus in NOIDA in which the following major aspects of preparation of DPRs.
They were covered, Overview of DPR Preparation, Hydrological investigations and studies,Traffic studies, traffic demand estimation and realistic forecasting, Geometrical design of highways, Pavement condition survey, material survey and geotechnical survey.
Modern topography survey and data collection, General guidelines for bridge design, Design of flexible pavement, Design of rigid pavement, Preconstruction activities and clearances, Environmental and social studies and project clearances, Road safety engineers and other measures, New technology and materials for highways, Project costing, economic and financial analysis, Gati Shakti Integrated Master Plan.
The DPR consultants will have to demonstrate the training undertaken by its key personnel in their Curriculum Vitae (CV) as part of their technical qualifications. The course has been designed to cover all the technical and non-technical aspects involved in the preparation of DPRs.
In the training program various challenges and issues of concerns such as competency and extent of involvement of key personnel, finalization of alignment, accuracy of survey data and design, proper preparation of the schedules, preconstruction activities and various statuary clearances would be deliberated.
The training would also focus on use of new / alternate material & technology and use of PM Gati Shakti Integrated Master Plan for deciding the alignment etc. The program is aimed to improve the overall quality of DPRs in development of Highways so that safe, quality resilient and sustainable highways are created.
IAHE is a registered Society under the administrative control of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India. A collaborative body of the Central and State Governments, IAHE was set up in the year 1983 with the primary objective of fulfilling the long-standing need for training of Highway Engineers at the entry level and during the service at all levels.
IAHE is an apex institute of excellence exclusively established as premier national institute of the country for sharing of ideas, knowledge and experiences on entire range of subjects dealing with planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and management of roads; bridges; tunnels and road transportation including technology, equipment, research, transport economics, finance, taxation, organization and all connected policy issues.
Besides conducting various training program IAHE is also conducting several certification courses. More than 1600 trainings have been conducted by IAHE in which about 44000 participants (2000 International from 50 Countries) have participated.
