Extension of services to the agreement signed between Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) - National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) and ILO partnership for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) - INDIA

Signing of the MoU for Extension of Services of ILO-PMGSY Assignment between NRRDA and ILO was held at NRRDA Conference Hall.

The Government of India recognizes maintenance of the rural roads network in a serviceable condition over time as a crucial factor for the overall development of the country. Keeping this in view, an agreement was signed in September 2012 between the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), Ministry of Rural Development and the International Labour Organization for the ILO to provide technical support to promote good maintenance practices, prepare maintenance manuals and standard contract documents and assist in institutional strengthening for the 8 States under the PMGSY Rural Roads Project, financed through a World Bank loan to the Government of India.

This technical collaboration has resulted in the implementation of rural road maintenance policy in 8 States as well as production of a number of technical products, namely:
  • Managing Rural Road Maintenance in India,
  • Rural Road Maintenance Training Modules for Engineers and Contractors,
  • Impact Assessment Study of Improved Rural Roads Maintenance System under PMGSY,
  • Strengthening Capacity of Panchayati Raj Institutions – Managing Maintenance of Rural Roads.
The technical assistance agreement, which ended in January 2016, has been extended from 1 February till 30 June 2016. The signing of this Amendment to the Agreement between the NRRDA and the ILO took place in New Delhi on 6 April 2016.

Photo taken during the signing of the Amendment to the ILO-NRRDA Agreement on 6th April 2016
Left to right: Mr S. S. Bhatia - Assistant Director NRRDA, Dr. Ashok Kumar - Senior Highway Engineer and Task Team Leader-RRP-II World Bank, Mr. R. Basavaraja – Director (P-II)/Team Leader RRP- II NRRDA, Mr. Rajesh Bhushan – DG-NRRDA/Joint Secretary PMGSY MoRD, Ms. Panudda Boonpala – Director ILO DWT for South Asia and Country Office of India, Mr. Htun Hlaing – Chief Technical Adviser – ILO-PMGSY Rural Roads Project

During this extended period, the ILO will:
  • Train Master Trainers from remaining 21 states on training modules developed by the ILO on ‘Maintenance of Rural Roads for Engineers and Contractors’
  • Develop training modules and conduct training on mobile-based application for road inventory and road condition survey in 8 States
  • Produce 5 different videos on community contracting, performance based maintenance contracting, e-payment system and online payment monitoring system for road contracts and other innovations from various states in construction of PMGSY roads
  • Continue to provide technical support to the 4 States on piloting community contracts and performance based maintenance contracts
  • Facilitate knowledge sharing with other countries and/or training workshops