Everyone who plants trees asks one question: is my tree still alive? For a highway contractor, the answer now decides when you get paid.
The rule
In September 2026 NHAI tightened its plantation rules:
- At least 80 percent of the right of way set aside for plants must be planted.
- At least 90 percent of saplings must be alive at inspection.
- Both must be certified before a provisional completion certificate (PCC) or provisional commercial operation date (PCOD) is recommended.
- Maintenance and annuity payments depend on keeping 90 percent survival for the whole maintenance period.
- Dead saplings must be replaced with plants of similar age and growth.
So survival is no longer a box ticked once. It is money held back until the numbers are right, year after year.
Why it is hard
A corridor can run for dozens of kilometres. Nobody walks it every week. Saplings die in patches: a stretch with no water tanker, a cut where cattle get in, a verge where soil was dumped. Found late, a dead stretch means replanting, waiting and payment on hold.
What Get Zero does for a corridor
- Checks every stretch every week from satellite images, and counts saplings by drone where you need exact numbers.
- Sends a WhatsApp alert naming the stretch that is drying, while there is still time to water or replant.
- Keeps a dated survival record for every stretch, ready to show the independent engineer at inspection.
See how the check works or what highway teams get.
The short answer
If your payment depends on 90 percent of saplings being alive, you need to know your survival rate before the inspector does, stretch by stretch. Book a demo with your corridor.
Common questions
What is the NHAI rule on highway plantation survival?
Under rules reported in September 2026, at least 80 percent of the right of way set aside for plants must be planted, and at least 90 percent of saplings must be alive at inspection, before a provisional completion certificate is issued. Operation and maintenance or annuity payments depend on keeping 90 percent survival during the maintenance period.
How do highway contractors track sapling survival?
By checking the whole corridor on a fixed schedule instead of walking it. Get Zero checks every stretch weekly from satellite images, counts saplings by drone where needed, and sends a WhatsApp alert naming the stretch that is drying.
What happens to dead saplings under the NHAI rules?
They must be replaced with plants of similar age and growth, so the row stays even. Finding the dead stretch early gives you time to replant before inspection.