NHAI Announces Winners of the ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards 2026’

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways NHAI Announces Winners of the ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards 2026’ The awards aim at promoting excellence in adoption of sustainable green practices across National Highway projects

Posted On: 03 SEP 2026 5:37PM by PIB Delhi In order to encourage and promote healthy plantation practices along the National Highways, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) instituted the ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards’ to recognize best practices in National Highway landscaping & plantation management. 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, interchange, toll plazas & service areas. For participation, the entries were opened to NHAI field offices, concessionaires, contractors, government agencies, NGOs and private agencies involved in plantation projects undertaken along the National Highway projects.

Announcing the Winners 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- Hyderabad2nd 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: Monetization of Public Funded operational National Highway Projects under Tolling. Operation, Maintenance and Transfer (ToT) Bundle-7, NE-lI - 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 that were 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 undertaken against a comprehensive assessment framework, with the survival rate of plantations carrying the highest weightage. Other parameters included site-specific plantation action plans, timing of plantation operations, size of pits, quality of planting material, protection measures, implementation as per approved design, species diversity, suitability and use of native species, Special emphasis was laid on quality, sustainability, effectiveness and potential for wider replication across the National Highway network.

The ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards’ was instituted in 2025 by NHAI, as mandated in the Green Highways Policy, 2015. The Awards reinforces NHAI’s commitment to integrating environmental sustainability with the development of the National Highway network across the country.

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