The construction of the ambitious Mumbai – Nagpur Super Communication Expressway will start in April, said state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar while presenting Maharashtra’s budget for the year 2018-19. The 701-km expressway Greenfield project, which is also called the Samruddhi Mahamarg or the Prosperity Corridor, will connect two important cities in the state.
The expressway will pass through the most backward districts of the state. The state government plans to develop 24 nodes or prosperity hubs, which include truck terminuses, commercial sites, knowledge city, IT industries, manufacturing units, etc, to boost the economy of the region .
“A special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been set up in the name of Nagpur -Mumbai Super Communication Expressway Limited for this project. The Samruddhi Mahamarg will run through 10 districts, 26 tehsils and 390 villages. Private land purchase procedure up to 52% is completed. The work on project will start from April 2018,” said Mungantiwar.
The project, which is implemented by the state-run Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), is estimated to cost Rs46,000 crore. The proposed eight-lane access controlled expressway will not only cut travel time between the two cities drastically, but the project is touted to become a game-changer for the state.
Meanwhile, in a push for the construction, repair and maintenance of the roads across the state, the government has allocated nearly Rs13,386 crore. According to Mungantiwar, the government has also allocated Rs10,828 crore for public works department for road construction and repairs across the state. “A goal of road construction of 3,36,994 km total length has been set in the Road Development Plan 2001-2021. Out of this, 2,99,446 km has been achieved. During the financial year 2018-19, Rs10,828 crore has been proposed for road construction,” the finance minister said.
Besides that, the minister announced that 2,000 km of National Highways valued at about Rs16,000 crore is in tendering process. Apart from that, 7,000km of roads under the Chief Minister’s Rural Roads Scheme are going to be constructed in the year 2018-19, and a provision of Rs2,558 crore is proposed for the project.
The state government has also given a push to the development of Metro rail corridors in Navi Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, apart from Mumbai. The state-run Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation has commenced the Metro rail projects in Pune and Nagpur, of about 69km in length and at an estimated cost of Rs20,100 crore.
“For these projects Rs90 crore provision in the form of subsidiary loan is proposed. Apart from this, another metro project of 11km in length and costing Rs3,043 crore has been taken up through City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) in Navi Mumbai. Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has also taken up 23.30km metro network in Pune costing about Rs8,313 crore on PPP model, Government of India has consented to provide VGF of Rs1,300 crore for this project,” Mungantiwar said in his presentation.
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