 |
Speaking at a public event in Mumbai on Sunday night, CM Shinde further said that the expressway will be a freshly constructed greenfield one.
The development of another highway between Mumbai and Goa is nearing completion. The final decision on the new greenfield expressway shall have to be announced by the central government.
The union government is developing the Mumbai - Goa highway into four under the 1622-km-long economic corridor between Mumbai and Kanyakumari. This 470 km-long road project that connects Panvel in Mumbai to Pollem in South Goa is expected to be thrown open to the public by mid-2023.
Once operational, this four-lane highway is expected to cut down the Mumbai-Goa travel time to seven hours from the current 12 hours. However, it is also opined that the central government may consider converting the currently-developing highway to an expressway, instead of constructing a new one.
Connectivity to the Konkan region is crucial for taking Maharashtra's development prospects to the next level. Currently, the Mumbai-Goa route sees 27000-45000 passenger car units (PCUs) daily.
The 701-km long Samruddhi Mahamarg or Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway is a partially opened 6-lane access-controlled expressway between the state capital and Nagpur. It is one of the country's longest greenfield road projects.
The first phase of the expressway from Nagpur to Shirdi was inaugurated and opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 December, while the second phase from Shirdi to Mumbai will be opened in 2023.
Officially named 'Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg' and built at a cost of about Ras 55,000 crore, this expressway passes through ten districts in Maharashtra's 10 districts and prominent urban regions of Amravati, Aurangabad, and Nashik.
Courtesy: Times Now News