Mumbai - Nagpur Expressway: PM Modi Inaugurates 529 Km Long Section Between Nagpur And Shirdi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (11 December) inaugurated the 529 kilometres long section of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde, the Governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.

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.

PM Modi laid the foundation stone for Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway in December 2018.

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.

A new economic corridor will come up on the expressway route, and 14 districts will be integrated and connected to the port through this 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.

The total cost of the expressway project, including land acquisition and engineering, is estimated to be Rs 55,332 crore.

Also read: PM Modi Inaugurates Phase-1 Of Nagpur Metro And Flags Off Vande Bharat Train To Bilaspur