Minister of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari himself got a taste of pathetic Mumbai-Goa Highway when he himself had to take the road to reach Pen. After the ride, he felt miserable and guilty for the sorry state of the highway.
Minister of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari got a taste of pathetic Mumbai-Goa Highway when he himself had to take the road to reach Pen. After the ride, he felt miserable and guilty for the sorry state of the highway.
“Today I saw Mumbai-Goa Highway, this road is in a very bad condition. I am very sorry (about it), it isn’t my fault. Fault is of the earlier government, work was given at the time of Congress-National Congress Party government and the end result is a complete mess,” said Gadkari.
While sharing his ‘bumpy ride’ experience, he added, “I took me 35 minutes to cover a distance of just 7-8 kms between JSW Steel Plant’s (near Alibaug) helipad to Pen, the road is that horrible. I am feeling very guilty as daily people have to suffer on this road...I am very sorry. As a minister, I feel ashamed and trying to rectify things.”
The government has given Rs 16 crore to repair the road, before the road is redone. The entire 85-km route between Palaspe Phata on the outskirts of Panvel to Indapur on the Mumbai-Goa Highway is in a terrible shape, resulting in waste of precious fossil fuel as well as productive time.
According to Gadkari, the entire Mumbai-Goa Highway will be ready by March 2019, which would be a four land cement-concrete road. For several years now, in patches, the road is in a bad condition.
Sharing the status of 1,250-km long Mumbai-Delhi Expressway project, he said that by December construction work would commence. It would be a 12-land highway to connect the two cities in 12 hours, as part of the first phase it will be a 8-lane highway connecting ‘tribal and backward areas’ of India.
Estimated to be worth Rs 1,00,000 crore, this greenfield expressway will start from Gurgaon and snake through Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur-Alwar-Jabhua-Ratlam-Vadodara to eventually reach at Thane. The target is to complete the project in two-and-a-half years from the commencement date.
Contract has been awarded for works between Mumbai-Vadodara section, earlier this week bids have been floated for the works between Delhi-Jaipur. Land acquisition for Mumbai-Vadodara stretch is said to be through, while work is underway to get land between Delhi-Jaipur.
Once the expressway is ready, the plan is to set up industrial zones parallel to the alignment.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union government officials will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to lay 339 km long Indore-Manmad rail line. Estimated to be around Rs 10,000 crore, 70% of the cost will be borne by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust as it will benefit the maximum from the freight cargo for export-import trade.
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