In a novel collaboration, the central body for constructing and maintaining the national highways National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur to work on improving the state of the highways, news agency PTI reported. As part of the collaboration, the NHAI and IIT Jodhpur will share their expertise to bring a turnaround and betterment of the highway structure. The collaboration agreement between the two institutions was signed at the IIT Jodhpur campus on Friday.
IIT Jodhpur Director Santanu Chaudhury who was present at the occasion was quoted as saying that the MoU will facilitate the joint working of the two institutions in various domains including transportation engineering, structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, among others. The other areas which will see a cooperation between the two institutions will be hydraulics engineering, infrastructure systems, earthquake engineering, urban and rural planning and disaster management and planning, Chaudhary said.
At a time when the job market is experiencing the shocks of the Coronavirus induced pandemic, the MoU will facilitate internship and training opportunities for the undergraduate as well as postgraduate students of the campus in the related domains. The joint collaboration has also been envisaged to bridge the differences between the industry and institutions and adoption of modern practices by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
NHAI is a central government owned Public Sector Unit which is responsible for laying the network of the national highways and other strategic roads in the country. Apart from financing its own construction projects, the NHAI also collaborates with various private construction companies under the Public Private Partnership model to undertake other joint road projects.
