Gadkari presented the National Highway Excellence Awards 2019
Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs, Hon’ble Shri Nitin Gadkari, presented the ‘National Highways Excellence Awards’ to outstanding performers in National Highway sector at an official ceremony last evening in New Delhi. The awards were set up in the year 2018. The first cycle of awards in 2018 received wide participation from around the country. Following the success of the first cycle, the Ministry decided to make the National Highways Excellence Awards an annual feature. The aim was to recognize companies which were performing exceptionally well in the construction, operations, maintenance and tolling stages of highway development as well as in the area of road safety. The motive behind starting an annual awards program was to create a spirit of healthy competitiveness amongst all stakeholders involved in the development of highway infrastructure in the country and to contribute to the larger goal of expanding the road network in the country. By announcing awards each year, the Ministry would acknowledge exceptional work being done in various aspects of highway management and recognize those agencies which are going beyond the scope of their work to deliver the finest quality of services. For this year’s awards, the nominations were opened on 19th August 2019. An impartial and independent evaluation process was followed which had objective and quantifiable assessment parameters. The jury consisted of Mr Jagdish Khattar, Former MD of Maruti Udyog Ltd; Mr Yudhbir Singh Malik, Secretary to Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways; and Mr A.V.Sinha, Director-General (Road Development) and Special Secretary to Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The winners from NHAI for award under ‘Construction and Development of Highways’ category by the jury follows as: Mr Kumar has finalized maximum number of DPRs viz. for projects Greenfield Corridors of Delhi-Vadodara, Amritsar-Jamnagar & Ambala-Kotputli. He has completed Land Acquisition for all the projects without any delay. Alignment of the projects and feasibility reports of Delhi-Vadodara part of Mumbai Expressway were got completed within a time period of 4 months. The project of decongestion of Dhaula Kuan-Airport corridor, which requires coordination on daily basis with large number of agencies including Defence Authorities and other security agencies, the major bottlenecks at Dhaula Kuan was removed with construction of flyover within 6 months’ time. His day-to-day monitoring at personal level with PDs, DPR Consultants, State Govt Authorities, Central Govt authorities and other agencies and coordination within NHAI has resulted in speedy completion of the projects undertaken by him. During the year 2019, the total length constructed under him is 371.10 kms NH of two-lane paved shoulder configuration under Bharatmala scheme, which is more than 1 km per day. All milestone and targets have been achieved ahead of schedule completion date despite harsh weather conditions in the Thar desert. Mr Jadon has ensured timely completion of prestigious Project of Dera Baba Nanak Kartarpur Sahib Corridor of International importance by coordinating with various agencies on fast track basis. Land acquisition process completed in record time of 3 months and civil work completed in a record time of 6 ½ month. The project was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Modi on 9th Nov’2019. The other ongoing projects under him viz. Phagwara-Rupnagar section Khemkaran-Gurdaspur (Pkg-II), Khaemkaran to start to Amritsar Bypass (Bharatmala project), Ramdas to Gurdaspur (pkg-V) (Bharatmala Project) and Construction of Elevated Structure at Phagwara city are in progress and ahead of scheduled Milestones. Mr Agrawal has acted for rectification of maximum black spots through remedial measures during January to December 2019 in his jurisdiction thereby contributing to enhancement of road safety. He has been closely associated with PPP projects undertaken by NHAI at the time of policy framework as well as in execution. Mr Yeotkar has ensured timely completion of 35 km stretch in forest area from MP/MH Border to Nagpur with elevated structures. This is the first of its own type project in India with viaducts of 750m at four places to cross the wildlife in the dense forest for the mitigation of Wildlife and NHAI has shown contribution towards diversified activities other than construction. He has also coordinated with Nagpur Metro for development of integrated structures of Flyover-cum-Metro corridors in Nagpur city.
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