Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Revises Construction Deadlines for National Highway Projects

The ministry also stated that an additional 12 months should be added to the advanced base construction period to compensate for construction cutting and slope stabilization related to terrain difficulties. These standard construction periods will apply to all national highway projects bid on or after May 6, 2026, under the Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) mode, the Hybrid Annuity Model (HM), or the Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode.

This rule related to highway construction projects will apply to national highway projects located in hilly/mountainous inaccessible areas of Himalayan/Northeastern states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir except Jammu, Ladakh, Sikkim, Darjeeling Hills, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Meghalaya.

According to the notification issued by the government, the consultant preparing the detailed project report (DPR) will also be required to estimate the construction period from a realistic perspective. Previously, the standard EPC contract document stipulated timelines, requiring completion of a highway more than 50 kilometers long and a major bridge less than 200 meters long within 24-30 months.