changeadminIn order to encourage and promote healthy plantation practices along the National Highways, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) instituted the ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards’ to recognise best practices in National Highway landscaping & plantation management.
NHAI instituted the ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards’ in 2025, as mandated in the Green Highways Policy, 2015.
The Awards reinforce NHAI’s commitment to integrating environmental sustainability with the development of the National Highway network across the country.
The winners of the ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards 2026’ were announced across three categories that included Avenue Plantations, Median Plantations and Plantation in Land Parcels, including clover leaves, interchanges, toll plazas & service areas.
Entries were open to NHAI field offices, concessionaires, contractors, government agencies, NGOs, and private agencies involved in plantation projects along National Highway projects.
Category- I: Avenue Plantations
1st Prize Project: Six-Laning of Chilakaluripet Bypass on NH 16 in Andhra Pradesh, Under RO-Vijayawada
2nd Prize Project: Eight-lane Vadodara – Kim Expressway, Padra to Vadodara Section of Vadodara – Mumbai Expressway in Gujarat, under RO-Gandhinagar
3rd Prize Project: Gagariya-Bakhasar section of NH-925 and Satta- Gandhav section of NH-925A, Under RO-Jaipur
Consolation Prize Project: Annual Maintenance, including Incident Management, of Trichy – Karaikudi section of NH-210, NH- 336, 36 & 536, including Trichy Bypass, under RO-Madurai
Category II: Median Plantations
1st Prize Project: Four-laning of Hyderabad -Yadgiri section of NH 163 km, under RO-Hyderabad
2nd Prize Project: Eight-lane Vadodara – Kim Expressway, Sanpa to Padra Section of Vadodara – Mumbai Expressway in Gujarat, under RO-Gandhinagar
3rd Prize Project: Varanasi Ring Road, Pkg-I, Harahua to Sandaha section of NH-31, under RO-UP East (Varanasi)
Category III: Plantation in Land Parcels
1st Prize Project: Jamtha Clover Leaf, Oxygen Bird Park on NH-44 under RO – Nagpur.
2nd Prize Project: Monetisation of Public-Funded operational National Highway Projects under Tolling. Operation, Maintenance and Transfer (ToT) Bundle-7, NE-11 – land parcels at Duhai Interchange, under RO-Delhi.
3rd Prize Project: Lucknow-Ayodhya Road and Lucknow Outer Ring Road Intersection Junction – Miyawaki Plantation in Loop Areas, under RO- UP West (Lucknow).
Nomination and assessment of entries
Award nominations were invited through the NHAI online portal. NHAI received an encouraging response to the NHAI Green Highways Excellence Awards, with 86 nominations received from across the country.
These comprised 27 nominations for Avenue Plantations, 36 for Median Plantations and 23 for Plantation in Land Parcels.
The nominations included presentations supported by geo-tagged photographs, drone videos, site-specific plantation plans, and plantation survival-rate data.
Following initial screening, 15 nominations – five in each category were shortlisted for final assessment. The evaluation was conducted against a comprehensive assessment framework, with plantation survival rate carrying the highest weightage.
Other parameters included site-specific plantation action plans, timing of plantation operations, pit size, quality of planting material, protection measures, implementation as per the approved design, species diversity, and the suitability and use of native species.
Special emphasis was laid on quality, sustainability, effectiveness and potential for wider replication across the National Highway network.
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