Commissioning High-speed connectivity projects seems to be one of the topmost agendas on the Government’s to-do list. After announcing a Bullet Train project which will connect Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the Government has announced that it will construct a new expressway which will bring travel time down between the two cities. At a projected cost of Rs. 44,000 crore, work on the 380 km-long Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway will begin next month. Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari announced on Tuesday. The six-lane highway is expected to cut down travel time by road between Ahmedabad and Mumbai considerably.
The project was announced by Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari at the 38th meeting of the Transport Development Council and state transport ministers. Mr Gadkari said, “The expressway will be axis-controlled. Land acquisition for the project is already completed. We will start the work on it next month.” He added, “Commuters from Vadodara will be able to reach Mumbai in two-and-a-half to three hours once the highway is operational and up to Ahmedabad in six hours. We have already issued five tenders to begin the work on this expressway.”
The project has been green flagged by the Union ministry of forest and environment and land acquisition for the 380km highway, which was facing hurdles from land owners of Gujarat and Maharashtra, had begun after the ministry’s nod. Officials of the National Highway Authority of India suggested that the expressway will start from Ghodbandar in Thane district and will traverse through the districts of Silvasa, Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara. It will ultimately connect to the already existing Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway. “Once commissioned, a person heading to Mumbai will be able to drive down to Mumbai from Ahmedabad in around six hours, the same time as taken by Shatabdi train,” said a senior official.
Source: TOI