The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued new guidelines tightening compliance requirements for plantation and landscaping along National Highway projects, making minimum plantation coverage and sapling survival rates a condition for issuance of the Provisional Certificate of Completion (PCC) or Provisional Commercial Operation Date (PCOD).
According to the guidelines issued on September 9, median and avenue plantation will be treated as an integral component of National Highway development and project completion. Plantation must be undertaken in accordance with the respective contract or concession agreement and prescribed norms under the Green Highways Policy, 2015, IRC:SP:21-2009 and other relevant guidelines of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and NHAI.
Under the revised requirements, plantation will be considered compliant for provisional completion certification only when at least 80% of the available Right of Way (ROW) earmarked for plantation has been planted and the saplings have recorded a minimum survival rate of 90% at the time of inspection.
Any plantation shortfall beyond the prescribed 80% threshold will have to be identified along with a specific timeline for completion. Financial amounts may be withheld, as provided under the relevant contract or concession agreement, until the remaining plantation is completed and the prescribed target achieved.
NHAI has also strengthened plantation maintenance requirements during the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) period. The release of O&M or annuity payments for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Annuity projects, as well as assessment of maintenance compliance in BOT-Toll projects, will be linked to maintaining a minimum 90% survival rate throughout the O&M period.
The guidelines further require timely replacement of plants that die. Such replacements must be made with plants of similar age and growth to maintain uniformity and continuity of plantation along the highway corridor.
Before processing O&M or annuity payments or certifying maintenance compliance, NHAI will seek technical assistance from environment and plantation experts engaged by the authority to verify field-level compliance and adherence to the prescribed survival standards.
NHAI said it had earlier observed that plantation along medians and avenues, despite being a contractual obligation, was often not given due importance while issuing PCC or PCOD for National Highway projects.
The revised guidelines seek to strengthen compliance and ensure that environmental sustainability and plantation management are incorporated into the implementation and maintenance framework of National Highway projects.