Infrastructure
Mumbai - Nagpur Expressway: PM Modi Inaugurates 529 Km Long Section Between Nagpur And Shirdi
- PM Modi inaugurated Nagpur to Shirdi section of 701-km long Mumbai-Nagpur expressway.
- The expressway project built at a cost of Rs 55,332 crore reduces the travel time between Nagpur and Mumbai by half, from 16 to eight hours.
- PM Modi laid the foundation stone for this expressway in December 2018.
PM Modi accompanied by CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis after inaugurating Mumbai-Nagpur expressway (@narendramodi/Twitter)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (11 December) inaugurated the 529 kilometres long section of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway.
This section inaugurated by the PM connects Nagpur with Shirdi and the remaining stretch between Shirdi and Mumbai is estimated to be completed in six months.
Despite Covid-19 pandemic and political instability in the state, the majority section of the expressway was completed and inaugurated within four years.
An expressway to prosperity
The 701-km long Mumbai-Nagpur expressway, built at the cost of Rs 49,250 crore, passes through 392 villages spread over 10 districts (Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Jalna, Aurangabad, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Thane).
The 'Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg’ is a six-lane access-controlled highway. It is the second expressway in the state after Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
When fully operational, the expressway will reduce the travel time between Nagpur and Mumbai by half, from 16 to eight hours.
The greenfield project was first announced in 2015 by the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government. The land acquisition began in July 2017, PM Modi laid the foundation stone in December 2018, and construction work started in January 2019.
The project is being led by the state infrastructure arm Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and is being developed under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model. For the project, the MSRDC has raised debt worth Rs 28,000 crore.
The construction work of the 701 km long Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway was divided into 16 packages, with work awarded to 13 contractors, including Afcons Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Reliance Infrastructure.
