News Brief
Nayan Dwivedi
Feb 29, 2024, 02:29 PM | Updated 02:29 PM IST
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After nearly 22 months of deliberation, the union government has given the green light to a new expressway linking Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) to Pune in Maharashtra.
The project, endorsed by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari, will be executed under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) framework.
Spanning 225 km, this expressway aims to drastically reduce travel time between Pune and Aurangabad from the current four to five hours to just two hours.
As reported by India.com, the construction of this expressway is expected to revolutionise regional connectivity, facilitating swifter travel from Nagpur to Jalna Samruddhi Mahamarg and onwards to Pune from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
The travel duration is anticipated to drop from the current 10 hours and 30 minutes to approximately four and a half hours.
Presently, the journey from Nagpur to Pune takes around 14 hours.
Earlier statements from Gadkari had suggested that the travel time between Pune and Aurangabad would be slashed to two hours upon the completion of the Mumbai-Delhi Expressway.
The Maharashtra Infrastructure Corporation has been tasked with executing the project, supported by a substantial loan of Rs 3 billion from HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation).
Furthermore, the overhaul of the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar to Ahmednagar road will be funded through toll revenue collected from four toll booths along the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar to Shirur stretch.
Nayan Dwivedi is Staff Writer at Swarajya.