Aimed to develop eco-friendly National Highways with the participation of community, farmers, NGOs, private sector, Government agencies and the Forest Department, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is looking at a month-end launch of the Green Highways (Plantation & Maintenance) Policy-2015.
Under its ambitious policy to transform India’s 96,000-km network of National Highways into green corridors, the Government plans to make it mandatory to set aside one per cent of the total road project cost for tree plantation. The policy will result in creation of more jobs all along the highways, besides green corridors.
“It has accordingly been decided that, henceforth, for the work related to the greening of National Highways, one percent of the civil work cost should be added separately while arriving at the total project cost (TPC) of National Highways being developed on Equipment Procurement Construction mode/Build-Operate- transfer mode," read the official communication from the ministry to the states.
"This fund will be transferred to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to maintain a separate Fund Account called "Green Highways Fund" only for this purpose," it said.
"This collection of one per cent will add to the Green Highways Fund, which will be used by the NHAI to transform 96,000 km NHs into green corridors," said an official from MoRTH.
"NHAI will act only as a Fund Manager for maintaining the account and releasing payments based on recommendation of concerned officials and agencies," he said.
The government plans to create a brigade of 1,000 contractors to fulfill this ambitious task.
Minister for roads and Highways Nitin Gadkari, who is the brain behind the policy, has in the recent past said that this effort will not just lead to green corridors, essential to bring down pollution levels but will also lead to wealth creation in the long term.