Remember the ambitious project that the NDA government had chalked out to connect Mumbai with Delhi via a signal-free expressway? Well, that project has now been put on a Fastrack and this news has been shared by none other than the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the three-day International Centre for Automotive Technology summit and he said that the land acquisition of the project was almost complete and road construction would begin soon. Gadkari also stated that, "We have allocated Rs 1 lakh crore for construction of the Delhi-Mumbai high-speed road corridor, which will connect Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. It will be the longest axis control expressway and will help agricultural and industrial growth of these states".
Commenting on the speed with which a project like these can be finished, Gadkari said, "We have been constructing 30 km roads every day. We have completed KMP, KGP and other national highway projects, like Dwarka expressway, ring road in Delhi and the southern peripheral road (SPR) are under development".
This new expressway will reduce road travel time between the two cities to just 12 hours, which at present takes about 25 hours. It was announced in March that the expressway is likely to be operational within 30 to 36 months from the start of its construction. Gadkari at yesterday's conference added, "The idea is to make high-quality roads where vehicles will consume less fuel".
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is part of the Modi government's planned 42,000 km of economic corridors project named Bharatmala Pariyojana. Apart from cutting down the travel time, it will also shorten the distance from 1,450 km to 1,250 km. It will be an eight-lane expressway and will be access-controlled. After it is operational, it is expected to reduce the congestion on this route.
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