The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has revised the construction timelines for national highway projects, allowing significantly longer completion periods depending on project cost, terrain and engineering complexity.
Under the new framework, certain large and technically demanding highway works may now take up to six years to complete.
Previously, the ministry allowed a maximum construction period of 30 months for highway projects longer than 50 km or for major bridges exceeding 200 metres.
The updated norms introduce a more flexible timeline that factors in the scale and structural challenges of each project.
According to a circular issued, the ministry has set a base construction period of 30 months for projects with civil costs exceeding Rs 1,500 crore.
The revised norms will apply to all national highway projects that are tendered on or after 6 May 2026. They will cover projects executed through engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), hybrid annuity model (HAM) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) modes.
The ministry said the earlier guidelines, which have been in place since July 2013, were based on outdated assumptions that often failed to reflect the complexities of modern infrastructure projects.
"Existing MoRTH guidelines, applicable since July 2013, are derived from a legacy linear model that does not explicitly account for voluminous earthwork leading to unrealistic construction period resulting in additional cost, risk, increase potential of arbitration and erodes the confidence of stakeholders to achieve the completion in time," the circular said.
Officials noted that the revised timelines are designed to make project planning more realistic at the design and bidding stages.
"Therefore, a need was felt to revise the existing guidelines based on scientific analysis and understanding of completed projects and prescribe a realistic construction period for civil works at DPR and bid invitation stage," it said.
"This will improve predictability in completion of projects, reduce disputes, enhance the value and quality of National highway assets, for realistic and bankable bids, better quality outcomes and improved investor confidence," it added.
Under the revised framework, projects involving multiple flyovers, tunnels or elevated structures may receive an additional six months beyond the base construction period. In difficult terrain, up to 12 months can be added to allow for formation cutting and slope stabilisation.
For long bridges of up to 10 km, the construction timeline may extend to as much as 72 months. Tunnel projects will also receive additional time based on their length and location, including specific allowances for works in the Western Ghats and the Himalayan region.
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