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NHAI Tightens Plantation Compliance Requirements for Highway Projects
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), vide its Press Release dated September 9, 2026, has issued revised guidelines to strengthen compliance with contractual obligations relating to median and avenue plantation on National Highway projects. The guidelines make plantation and landscaping an integral part of project completion and maintenance, in accordance with the applicable Contract/Concession Agreement, Green Highways Policy, 2015, IRC:SP:21-2009 and other relevant Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH)/NHAI guidelines.
The guidelines prescribe a minimum plantation threshold for issuance of the Provisional Certificate of Completion (PCC)/Provisional Commercial Operation Date (PCOD). Plantation shall be considered compliant only where:
- plantation has been undertaken over at least 80% of the available Right of Way (ROW) earmarked for plantation; and
- the planted saplings have achieved a minimum 90% survival rate at the time of inspection.
Where plantation falls short of the prescribed 80% threshold, the shortfall shall be specifically recorded along with timelines for completion. Financial withholdings in accordance with the applicable Contract/Concession Agreement shall continue until the prescribed target is achieved.
The guidelines also strengthen plantation requirements during the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) period. Release of O&M/annuity payments under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Annuity projects, as well as assessment of maintenance compliance under BOT (Toll) projects, shall be subject to maintaining a minimum 90% survival rate throughout the O&M period.
Plant casualties are required to be replaced in a timely manner with plants of similar age and growth. Before processing O&M/annuity payments or certifying maintenance compliance, NHAI will obtain technical assistance from its engaged environment and plantation expert to verify field-level compliance with the prescribed survival standards.
