NEW DELHI: National Highways Authority of India NHAI ) has signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IIT-Kharagpur for research project to develop technology to construct long lasting maintenance free highways in India.“IIT-Kharagpur will develop ‘Paneled Cement Concrete Pavements’ for highways. The duration of the research project is 3 years,” a statement from NHAI said.In India, the highways are generally paved with bituminous material produced from refineries. However, it has been experienced that these highways are prone to damage and need frequent maintenance due to adverse climatic conditions such as rain and hot weather prevailing in the country.Therefore, to overcome this problem, the road transport and highways ministry has recently announced a policy for the construction of concrete pavements for all major highways due to their longevity and maintenance free life.“Traditionally and as per the current practices, the construction of these highways requires a monolithic (in-situ) layer of cement concrete normally 300 mm thick laid continuously over the prepared surface, therefore, an innovation is required to optimize the design of concrete pavement in its traditional form which can facilitate faster construction at much cheaper cost, thus, consuming less natural resources and promote Green Highways in the country,” the statement said.“The paneled concrete pavement laid on a lean concrete base can provide long lasting maintenance free pavement at a cost on par with those of bituminous pavements,” the statement added.