Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra has set the ambitious target of completing the 701-km Nagpur-Mumbai expressway by December 2023, just months ahead of the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls next year.
Last December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had opened the first phase of the expressway to the public — a 520-km stretch between Nagpur and the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district.
The work that remains from Shirdi to Amne village near Bhiwandi, a satellite town of Mumbai, is the most challenging portion of the entire expressway, officials from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) told ThePrint.
The MSRDC, which Chief Minister Shinde heads as its chairman, is the state government agency implementing the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway project.
“Building the expressway towards Mumbai through Nashik and Thane districts is the most-challenging part of the entire project due to the hilly terrain of the two districts. It involves building multiple tunnels and viaducts,” a senior MSRDC official associated with the project told ThePrint.
“At one point in the Vashala village in Thane district, we have to build a viaduct at a height of 275 feet over a valley,” he added.
MSRDC managing director R. Mopalwar confirmed that the Nagpur-Mumbai corridor is on track to be completed by December till Amne village near Bhiwandi in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
The showpiece Nagpur-Mumbai corridor, being built at a cost of Rs 55,000 crore, was first proposed by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis when he was the CM in 2015.
Once complete, the expressway will be the state’s longest highway. Passing through 14 districts, it is expected to cut the 16-hour journey from Nagpur to Mumbai to half. The state has branded the greenfield expressway as the ‘Samruddhi Mahamarg’ (prosperity corridor), saying it will be a game changer for the development of the districts that it connects.
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Target December, one stretch at a time
To reach the December 2023 target, the MSRDC has broken up the remaining 181 km into four smaller stretches, each with its own deadline.
The first stretch of 44 km after Shirdi till Gonde village in Nashik district’s Sinnar taluka is expected to be complete by the end of this month, said the MSRDC official quoted earlier.
The second stretch of 36 km till Bharvir village in Nashik district’s Chandwad taluka will be laid by the end of May. Post that, another 23 km till Igatpuri in Nashik district is expected to be complete by June end. The final 78 km till Amne village near Bhiwandi, the Mumbai end of the expressway, will be completed by December this year, the MSRDC official added.
“Overall 79 per cent of the entire project is so far complete. The work that remains has a lot of challenges requiring the construction of at least 12 tunnels and 16 viaducts,” he said. Of the 12 tunnels, two are 8 km long.
When Fadnavis had first proposed the project, he had hoped to complete it by 2019, in time for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls that year. However, due to delays for various reasons, construction started only in January 2019.
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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