Upcoming road construction contracting reforms to stem project delays: Official

The Centre will soon institute reforms in road construction contracts, which are expected to stem delays in project execution, a senior official told businessline.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is in the process of revising the contract document for projects built under the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT-Toll) mode.

Speaking on the sidelines of an industry event here, the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, V. Umashankar, said that the upcoming reforms will streamline contract conditions to address project delays.

“These reforms are part of the overall strategy for creating smart planning in infrastructure development,” he said on the sidelines of CII’s Future of Smart Roads in India.

As per the senior official, the new contractual conditions being finalised will address the issues faced by contractors. “There shouldn’t be sudden surprises or uncertainties for contractors for which there are no provisions made in the contract.”

“Predictability,” he said, “is central to smart infrastructure — in planning, execution, and user experience.” According to Umashankar, the first focus should be on fulfilling ‘conditions precedent’.

“Pre-construction essentials such as ensuring land availability, obtaining necessary clearances, and including proper risk-sharing and plans for dispute resolution in contracts are important,” he said.

Besides, Umashankar said that transparent contract implementation is the “essence of smartness.”

Furthermore, he noted that “user predictability is as important as contractual predictability, ensuring people know when and how they can use infrastructure.”

In its reforms package, the Centre is expected to add a provision for risk sharing in the PPP (Public Private Partnership) mode. The provision is said to compensate contractors if the traffic is below estimates.

Published on October 28, 2025