The ministry has changed the BOT agreement to hold contractors directly accountable for crash management and corrective actions, according to Road Transport and Highways Secretary V Umashankar. The contractor will be fined Rs 25 lakh if multiple accidents occur on a specific section, say 500 meters. If an accident occurs the following year, the fine will rise to Rs 50 lakh, Umashankar stated, according to reports.
As part of its broader initiative to enhance road safety measures, the ministry has identified approximately 3,500 accident-prone areas nationwide. Currently, three models are used to carry out national highway projects: engineering procurement and construction (EPC), hybrid annuity model (HAM), and business operations theory (BOT).
HAM projects have a 15-year concession period, whereas BOT projects have a 15–20 year concession period. The defect liability period under EPC mode is ten years for concrete pavements and five years for bituminous pavements. While operate-maintain-transfer (OMT) projects usually last nine years, toll-operate-transfer (TOT) and infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) projects have 20–30 year tenures.
Umashankar also declared that a nationwide cashless treatment program for victims of traffic accidents will soon be implemented by the government. The program will pay up to Rs 1.5 lakh for the first seven days of treatment at hospitals that have been empanelled, based on lessons learnt from a previous pilot. The program, which was first tested in Chandigarh in March 2024 and subsequently expanded to six states, attempts to lower the number of deaths brought on by delays in receiving emergency medical care.
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