NHAI officials to be liable for accidents due to poor road works

With poor road engineering works being blamed for several road accidents, the National Highways Authority has warned its officials that they will be held liable if any mishap occurs due to poor national highway work.

The authority has taken a serious view towards the dereliction of duty by the representative of NHAI/IE/AE involved in the process of issuance of the provisional certificate, thereby jeopardising the safety of users in utter disregard of the policy guidelines and provisions of the contract agreement, the NHAI in a circular said.

"It must be ensured that road safety works on the project highway are complete in all respects prior to issuing a provisional certificate. Regional officer/project director/independent engineer will be held liable for any fatal/serious accidents that occur as a result of poor road engineering works (sic)," it said.

"It has come to notice that provisional completion certificates are being issued keeping safety works such as road marking, road signages, end treatment of crash barriers in the 'punch list', which not only compromise the safety of users but also bring a bad name to NHAI upon the occurrence of accidents/fatalities," the circular said.