46,000 cr Mumbai-Nagpur highway to be ready by Oct 2019, will reduce travel time from 18 to 8 hours
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The Maharashtra government is all set to launch the ambitious Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway project which will create a state-of-the art road connectivity within a period of three years and help attract more investment.
The highway will cover a distance of 750 km through 10 districts.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis unveiled the Rs 46,000-crore project on Friday and said that it will be completed by October 2019 by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the implementing agency.
While interacting with journalists, Fadnavis said not only Maharashtra but the entire country would benefit from the project. “This is a project of all the countrymen, all the parties, all the stakeholders and all the motorists who would use it in the future,” he said.
“I have directed the officials for comprehensive and in-depth planning and fast execution of the project with ample focus on development of agro-processing nodes,” he added.
The six-lane super communication highway, connecting the entire breadth of Maharashtra, would require 9000 hectares of land.
One of the key features of the project is that it would be carried out in the Land Pooling model with farmers being made partners and some percentage of revenue being given back to them. The land pooling model is already being practised by the Andhra Pradesh government to acquire land for its new capital city of Amaravathi.
Facilities like CCTV cameras, trauma centres, electronic toll points, two service lanes of service roads, utility shifting, bypass, and other structures would be installed to enhance operational and safety standards.
MSRDC vice-chairman and managing director Radheysham Mopalvar, making a power-point presentation, said the expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between Nagpur to Mumbai from 18 to eight hours. It will also give a boost to economic growth in the 10 passing districts and 14 adjoining districts, he said.
On the time-frame for the project, he said selection of the construction firm would be finalised by the end of this year, actual work would begin in January 2017 and it would be completed by October 2019.
Fadnavis said, “Initially the state government would incur the cost of the project and later MSRDC, which has a mastery in raising the funds through various schemes and bonds, would take care of the funding.”
“Before kickstarting this project, I have spoken to several MPs, MLAs, Ministers and other people and now I appeal all the stakeholders to come forward and give their support to it,” Fadnavis added.
