NHAI mandates 80% plantation for highway project completion

The National Highways Authority of India has introduced stricter environmental requirements for highway projects. Contractors must now achieve 80% plantation coverage to obtain project completion certificates, with a minimum 90% sapling survival rate needed for provisional certification.

Financial withholdings will be used to enforce completion of outstanding plantation work and achievement of targets. Payments during the operations phase will be linked directly to maintenance of plant survival rates, with timely replacement of dead or damaged plants now mandatory.

The new norms aim to ensure sustained environmental compliance and green cover along national highways.