MoRTH extends deadlines for NH projects by upto 6 years

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has revised the construction timelines for national highways to better accommodate challenges like rough terrain and engineering complexity. Under the new framework, projects costing over Rs 15 billion now have 30 months for construction, up from 24 months previously. Similarly, projects spanning over 50 km or major bridges exceeding 200 metres have a construction period of 30 months. Outlining the additional time for critical projects that involve multiple flyovers, tunnel or elevated structures, MoRTH has given an additional six months, over and above the base period. It has also allowed the addition of 12 months to the enhanced base construction period to compensate for terrain difficulty-related formation cutting and slope stabilisation. For long bridges up to 10 km, the construction period has been capped at 72 months. After the construction of a 2 km-long tunnel in 24 months in the Western Ghats and 36 months in the Himalayas, up to six months will be added for every additional 1 km of tunnel length. The revised norms will apply to all national highway projects that are tendered on or after May 6, 2026.  Additionally, they apply to projects awarded via engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), hybrid annuity model (HAM) and build-operate-transfer contracts.