The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has made plantation compliance a prerequisite for issuance of the Provisional Certificate of Completion (PCC) or declaration of the Provisional Commercial Operation Date (PCOD) for new highway stretches. The authority has issued guidelines requiring that plantation obligations be substantially met before a road can be certified as substantially completed and safe for commercial use. The measure aims to ensure adequate greenery along newly developed highway corridors.

Under the rules, plantation must cover at least 80 per cent of the available right of way (RoW) earmarked for vegetation before PCC or PCOD is issued, and the planted saplings must show a minimum 90 per cent survival rate at the time of inspection. The independent engineers or the authority's engineers are required to certify that these thresholds have been achieved when recommending completion certification. The guidelines further state that casualty replacement must be undertaken with plants of commensurate age and growth to preserve uniformity of the plantation.

The NHAI has linked plantation maintenance to payments during the operation and maintenance (O&M) period, making the release of O&M or annuity payments contingent on maintaining the stipulated 90 per cent survival rate. Appropriate financial withholdings provided under contracts or concession agreements will remain until outstanding plantation targets are fulfilled. This arrangement is intended to hold highway concessionaires and contractors accountable for long term upkeep of median and avenue plantations.

Regional officers will verify that plantation work conforms to contractual provisions, the standards prescribed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and NHAI, and the Green Highways Policy 2015. Officials indicated that reviews of national highway projects had found plantation and landscaping were often not accorded due importance at the time of recommending completion certificates, prompting the stricter compliance framework. The guidelines are expected to strengthen environmental sustainability and aesthetics and to ensure that planting obligations are not overlooked before projects are declared substantially complete.