NHAI tightens plantation compliance norms for NH projects

State-owned NHAI on Wednesday said it has tightened compliance norms for plantation along the median and avenues of National Highway projects before the issuance of a provisional completion certificate.

Under the new guidelines, NHAI will ensure that median and avenue plantation is undertaken strictly in accordance with the respective contract/concession agreement and prescribed guidelines as per the Green Highways Policy, 2015 and other relevant guidelines issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and NHAI, the state-owned entity said in a statement.

It said a key provision of the guidelines is the introduction of a minimum threshold for the issuance of the provisional certificate of completion (PCC) / provisional commercial operation date (PCOD).

Plantation works will be considered compliant for the purpose of provisional completion certification only when plantation has been undertaken on at least 80 per cent of the available Right of Way (ROW) earmarked for plantation, with planted saplings recording a minimum survival rate of 90 per cent at the time of inspection by the officials, NHAI said.

The guidelines further stipulate that any plantation shortfall beyond the prescribed 80 per cent threshold must be highlighted along with specific timelines for completion, it added.

Appropriate financial withholdings, as provided under the relevant contract/concession agreement, will be enforced until the balance plantation is completed and the prescribed target is fully achieved, it said.

NHAI said it has also strengthened plantation maintenance requirements during the operations and maintenance (O&M) period of the National Highways.

The release of O&M/annuity payments in 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 subject to maintaining a minimum 90 per cent survival rate throughout the O&M period, it said.

The state-owned agency said it had earlier observed that development of plantation along the median and avenues, which is a contractual obligation, was often not accorded due importance at the time of issuing PCC/PCOD for National Highway projects.

The revised guidelines reinforce NHAI’s commitment to integrate environmental sustainability and plantation management into the core implementation and maintenance framework of National Highway projects, it added.