The work on the Rs 55,000 crore-expressway, which will be connecting Mumbai and JNPT with Nagpur, was started in January 2019. THE FIRST phase of Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Super Expressway, a 360 kilometre stretch between Nagpur and Vaijapur in Aurangabad district, is all set to be opened for public use by the end of February this year, as it is in the last stage of completion.
The project is aimed at reducing the travel time between the two cities by over 50 per cent.
Currently, it takes around 16-18 hours to reach Nagpur from Mumbai by road.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which is the nodal agency for the execution of the ambitious 701 kilometres of eight-laned super expressway, has completed over 70 per cent of the work.
The work on the Rs 55,000 crore-expressway, which will be connecting Mumbai and JNPT with Nagpur, was started in January 2019.
According to officials, from Nagpur to Shelu Bazar in Washim district and Sindkhedraja of Buldhana district to Vaijapur Aurangabad district are likely to be started initially and the rest of the road will be opened in phases by March 2023.
The MSRDC had initially planned to start the first phase of the super expressway between Nagpur and Shirdi, however, the work got delayed due to various factors.
The work was also hit due to the pandemic when most of the labour returned to their hometown and there was a shortage of industrial oxygen which hampered the construction of steel bridges.
An official said that now the work is on in full swing as all the issues have been resolved.
“The 210 km road from Nagpur to Selu Bazar in Washim and the 150 km road from Sindkhedraja to Vaijapur will be completed by the end of February and later, the work on the other packages, where some bridge work is left, will be completed by mid-2022, which will able us to open the traffic on the complete stretch of Nagpur and Shirdi,” the official added.
“The 360 km road will be completed by February-end and the whole project is likely to be completed by March next year,” said A K Gaikwad, joint managing director of MSRDC.
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