The civil work-related to the elevated stretch of the Priority corridor of Agra Metro has been completed.
The major milestone was recorded when the last U-Girder for the elevated section of the 6-km Priority Corridor connecting Taj East Gate and Jama Masjid Station was erected on 13 March.
Launching of U-Girder On Agra Metro
The U-Girder essentially makes the viaduct, or the pathway for the metro train on the elevated stretch. It is one of the most important civil structures for the metro system, a press statement issued by Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) read.
In all, 196 U-Girders have been erected for the priority stretch of the first corridor of the Agra Metro Project.
The 27.90-metre-long curved U-Girders weigh approximately 160 tonnes. They have been lifted with the help of cranes and placed on the already erected pier caps.
Sushil Kumar, managing director, UPMRC said, “It is a true indication of our commitment to give the people of Agra a world class metro system in stipulated time. All the U-Girders have been erected in due time and very soon the trial run of the trains will also begin”.
Two Routes
The 29.4 km Agra Metro has two corridors with 27 stations.
Agra Metro Map
The 14 km first corridor between Taj East Gate and Sikandra is now under development and has 13 stations — six elevated and seven underground.
The second corridor to be built between Agra Cantt and Kalindi Vihar in Agra City will be 15.4-km-long and will be completely elevated with 14 stations.
Priority Corridor
The Priority corridor is a 6-km stretch on Corridor 1 and runs from Taj East Gate to Jama Masjid.
It would have three elevated metro stations – Taj East Gate, Basai and Fatehabad Road along with three underground metro stations — Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Jama Masjid.
With launching of the last U-girder, the civil work on the elevated stretch of priority corridor is now complete.
However, the tunneling work on the priority corridor’s 3 km underground section between Taj Mahal and Jama Masjid has started only in Feb 2023.
The civil work on all the three elevated stations on the priority corridor — Taj East Gate, Basai and Fatehabad Road has already been completed.
Taj East Gate Metro StationBasai Metro StationFatehabad Metro Station
The Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) will roll out the first metro train on the priority corridor by January 2024.
Prime Minster Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of Agra Metro Project in December 2020.
The work on the first phase of the Noida International Airport (NIA) at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh is progressing on time and will start functioning by 2024-end, according to its CEO Christoph Schnellman.
Tata Projects, which is the contractor for the project has completed the earthwork, levelling, and excavation work across the project site.
Work has now moved to vertical construction and building of substructures.
Over the next few months, multiple buildings will be seen on the site, including the passenger terminal building, office blocks, sewage and water treatment plants, and electrical substations.
The particulars of structure being developed in the first phase of the airport includes:
1. Runway: 4,000-metre-long and 45-metre-wide
2. Air Traffic Control: 40-metre-long ATC tower which will provide a 360-degree view of the airport to air traffic controllers.
3. Passenger Terminal Building: Spread over an area of over 34,000 sqm (equivalent to four football fields), the building will have the capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum and 1 lakh air traffic movement.
4. 28 Parking Stands
It should be noted that aircraft movements include landings as well as departures. One departure and one arrival is counted as two aircraft movements.
Mobilising Men and Machinery
The Jewar airport is understood to be the “most important” project of the state government and is being personally monitored by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Adityanath, during his inspection of the airport site in September 2022 had asked the project developers to speed up the airport work, by increasing the number of staff and machines, so that the project is completed by early 2024 and the first flight scheduled for September 2024 takes off on time.
According to figures shared by officials, more than 2,600 people are currently working at the site, and is expected to reach 6,000.
Apart from these more than 400 heavy and small machineries have been installed at the site so far.
As part of the civil work, around 32,000 cubic metres of concrete has been poured till date and 14,000 tonnes of steel has been used for the construction.
The construction of the Noida Airport marked a milestone on 16 January with a “mega pour” of 1,800 cubic metres of concrete and 350 tonne of cement in 20 hours.
To put entire effort in perspective, a total of 4.2 million man-hours have been spent without injury till date on building the airport, deemed to be India’s largest airport upon completion.
Phase-wise Expansion
The airport will be developed in four phases, with two interconnected terminals and an annual passenger capacity of 70 million.
The first phase spread over 1,334 hectares will have one runway, cargo hub along with a terminal that will cater to domestic and international passengers. As per the concession agreement, the first phase for 12 million passengers per annum is to be completed and made operational by September 2024.
The first expansion of the airport- construction of the second runway and the terminal building – will start once it reaches 80 per cent of the 12 million passengers per year capacity.
Similarly, the development of the third, fourth and fifth runways will begin when footfall increases from 12 million to 30 million, 50 million and 70 million.
Devotes visiting Haridwar may soon use driverless pods for internal travel within the holy city.
Uttarakhand Metro Rail Corporation (UKMRC) has invited global competitive bids for development of Personalised Rapid Transit (Pod Taxi) in the holy city of Haridwar on PPP basis.
Earlier in 2019, UKMRC has requested DMRC to prepare detailed project report (DPR) for development of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system in Haridwar City.
Pod Taxi
PRT system, also known as pod cars or pod taxis, is a public transport system which comprises small automated vehicles operating on a network of specially built guideways. The driverless pods usually work for non-stop, point-to-point travel transporting four to six people at a time.
Numerous PRT systems were proposed in India, but none of them could be implemented.
As a pilot project, the pod taxi system was to be developed on the 12.3 km stretch from Gurugram border to Sohna road, at a cost of around Rs 800 crore. The project has however, remained in abeyance.
In June 2022, Telangana Government proposed to set up an PRT system from State Assembly to Paradise Metro station in Hyderabad.
Further, in February 2023, the National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML) invited proposals from consultants for carrying out feasibility study for development of PRT system to be implemented in GIFT City in Gujarat
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has already constituted a special committee to formulate and recommend standards and specifications for PRT system in the country.
Necessity
Being one of the seven holiest cities in India, Haridwar often bustles with devotees. Its propitious location near the holy River Ganga has made it to gain more popularity.
Haridwar is also one of the four places where Kumbh Mela occurs after rotation of every twelve Years and Ardh Kumbh Mela is organised after six years of every Kumbh.
Today, the city is developing beyond its religious importance, with the fast developing industrial estate of State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand (SIIDCUL), and the close by township of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) as well as its affiliated ancillaries.
Presently, the city does not have adequate public transport system to handle huge influx of pilgrimages as well as industrial establishments.
The dedicated personal rapid transit system will not only make the journey comfortable and time saving, but it will also be eco-friendly and energy efficient.
Specification
The proposed Haridwar PRT system will comprise of 4 PRT Corridors aggregating to 20.74 km with 21 stations.
The details of the proposed PRT corridors are as follows:
Proposed PRT corridors details.
The proposed route can be seen on the map below:
Map showing the Proposed PRT Corridors in Haridwar city.
It is expected that the Pod taxi will provide seamless connectivity across the city, commercial zones, Railway Station, Bus Stand, tourist places like Har-Ki-Pauri Mansa Devi Temple, Bharat Mata Temple, Daksh Temple among others.
The Government will award five more multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs) in FY 2023-24.
The information was provided to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture which presented its report on Demands for Grants of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the next fiscal.
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) is developing 35 MMLPs at some of the highest freight movement regions in the country in order to enhance logistics efficiency across the country.
Out of these 35 MMLPs, 15 are prioritised for award by FY 2024-25 under Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana.
These MMLPs have been planned for development under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan on PPP mode.
Within these 15 MMLPs, the MMLP at Jogighopa in Assam is currently under development with total cost of Rs 694 crore and will become operational in FY 2023-24. Jetty work for the MMLP at Assam has been awarded separately and that work shall also be completed in 2023-24.
FY 2022-23
During the ongoing fiscal (FY 2022-23), the Ministry has planned to award four MMLPs.
In November 2022, the Road Transport Ministry awarded Reliance Industries (RIL) the contract for setting up the MMLP near Chennai at a total cost of Rs. 1,424 crore.
Indore MMLP has also been awarded to Construction engineering company G R Infraprojects.
The project will be implemented on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis wherein the concessionaire will develop and operate the MMLP at an estimated cost of Rs 1,110.58 crore.
Bids for MMLPs at Bengaluru and Nagpur are in process and are expected to be completed by the end of FY23.
The bid for Bengaluru MMLP to be built in Muddalinganahalli in rural Bengaluru bid had to be re-floated as a bidder was disqualified, leaving a single bidder scenario. Hence, to avoid any controversy, a fresh bid had to be floated in December 2022.
FY 2023-24
The Ministry will award five more multimodal logistics parks in FY 2023-24 which includes Pune, Anantapur, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Jammu.
The committee in its report has recommended that the Ministry may come up with a clear targeted timeline for awarding the remaining 20 MMLPs. Further, it has asked for a robust monitoring framework to ensure the timely completion of the development of MMLPs.
Reducing Logistics Cost
MMLP is an integrated facility within which all activities relating to logistics and the distribution of goods, both for national and international transit can be carried out across multiple modes of transport.
These mega establishments are targeted to reduce logistics costs to 8-9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Currently, logistics account for 14 per cent of GDP-making India far less competitive on the global stage.
Catering to 50 per cent of nation’s road freight movement, the MMLPs will maximise efficiency of goods movements across the country.
The National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML), which is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is the nodal agency for implementing the MMLP projects.
The MMLPs equipped with inter-modal facilities for freight handling, warehouses, cold storages, custom bonded area will provide one stop solution and reduce transportation costs, inventory handling costs and substantially resolve inefficiencies present in the logistics ecosystem.
In a move that will further expand the expressway network of Uttar Pradesh, the Centre is working on 10 greenfield expressways and economic corridor worth Rs 1.38 lakh crore in the state.
This was announced by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on Monday (13 March) while laying the foundation of highway projects in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh.
The construction of a project on a new alignment is categorised as a greenfield project.
The greenfield projects generally pass through new areas, wherein the per unit cost of land acquisition is generally less, considering less development in these areas.
Swarajya explains the proposed routes and the budget of the 10 expressways in Uttar Pradesh
1. Gorakhpur-Siliguri Greenfield Expressway
The six-lane, 520-km-long greenfield expressway runs from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to Siliguri in West Bengal via north Bihar.
Around 85 km of the expressway would pass through Gorakhpur, Deoria and Kushinagar districts in Uttar Pradesh, before entering Bihar where it will run for 416 km and end in West Bengal after covering a length of 19 km.
The proposed alignment of Gorakhpur-Siliguri Expressway.
Being developed at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore, it will provide a direct link for outbound traffic from North East region towards northern India including the national capital, Punjab and Haryana.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has finalised the alignment for the expressway and work tender for the project shall be awarded in the next few months.
2. Gorakhpur-Shamli Greenfield Expressway
The 840-km-long expressway will connect Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh with Shamli near Saharanpur in West UP.
It is proposed to pass through Gorakhpur, Bahraich, Balarampur, Ayodhya, Sitapur, Shahjahanpur, Amroha, Muzaffarnagar and Meerut before terminating at Shamli.
The project will be taken up under Phase-2 of Bharatmala Pariyojana at an estimated cost of Rs 35,000 crore.
The greenfield alignment will have a spur connection to Delhi-Meerut expressway, Delhi-Dehradun expressway and Gorakhpur-Siliguri expressway.
3. Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway
The six-lane, 620 km Varanasi-Kolkata expressway connects Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand, and Howrah (Kolkata) in West Bengal.
The representative route of Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway.
Covering a distance of 22 km in UP, 159 km in Bihar, 187 km in Jharkhand and 242 km in Bengal, the e-way has been planned to provide high-speed connectivity to the northern and eastern regions of the country.
The project will enhance the connectivity for the entire eastern India and has an estimated budget of Rs 22,000 crore.
The NHAI has received bids from 15 firms for eight packages for the civil construction work of the Varanasi-Kolkata expressway.
4. Varanasi-Aurangabad-Chordaha Economic Corridor
Starting near Varanasi, the six-lane (expandable to eight-lane) economic corridor passes through Aurangabad in Bihar before ending at Chordaha on Bihar-Jharkhand border.
The 262-km-long economic corridor is part of GT Road and will be extended to Dhanbad in Jharkhand.
With an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore, the NHAI has targeted to completed the stretch till Chordaha by December 2023.
5. Ghazipur-Ballia-Manjhi Ghat Greenfield Link Expressway
The 135-km-long Ghazipur-Ballia-Manjhi Ghat greenfield expressway will connect Ballia in eastern UP with Purvanchal Expressway.
The four-lane link expressway will traverse through Ghazipur and Ballia before terminating at Manjhi Ghat in Bihar.
The people of Ballia and Bihar will get benefitted as the travel time to reach Delhi, Lucknow or Patna will reduce drastically after the completion of the Ballia Link Expressway project.
Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for the Rs 5,311 crore project on 27 February which is expected to be completed by 2024.
6. Kanpur-Lucknow Greenfield Expressway
Being constructed at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore, the Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway is a 62.74-km-long access-controlled road connecting Kanpur and Lucknow.
The six-lane (expandable to eight) expressway will run parallel to NH-27 between Kanpur and Lucknow with a distance of about 8.5 km between existing and proposed parallel roads.
The expressway will bring down the travel time between two largest cities of Uttar Pradesh to mere 35 minutes.
NHAI has already awarded the contract for the project and has targeted to open the expressway by May 2024.
7. Chambal Expressway
The 415-km-long Atal Progressway is a six-lane expressway connecting Kota in Rajasthan to Etawah in Uttar Pradesh via Sheopur, Morena and Bhind districts in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
The Rs 15,000 crore project starts from NH-27 in Seemalya Village in Kota district, Rajasthan and ends at Ninawa village in Etawah district in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The lion’s share of the greenfield expressway, at nearly 300 km, will pass through Madhya Pradesh.
Chambal Valley
The NHAI has invited bids for more than 300 km length of the expressway. The tenders for the remaining length of the expressway are under progress and expected to be released in next few months.
Also called “Chambal Expressway”, it will enhance economic development in the area otherwise known for ravines, semi-arid land and a dark history of legendary brigands and lawlessness.
The expressway running along the Chambal River will connect with Bundelkhand Expressway and Agra-Lucknow Expressway at Etawah and the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME) at Kota.
8. Agra-Gwalior Greenfield Highway
The Agra-Gwalior Expressway is a proposed 85 km long six-lane access-controlled greenfield highway connecting Gwalior with the Taj City.
Starting at Yamuna Expressway link in Agra, the expressway will traverse through Shamsabad in Uttar Pradesh, Dholpur in Rajasthan, Morena in Madhya Pradesh before ending at Gwalior by-pass.
The construction of Rs 2,500 crore greenfield expressway, which will be connecting to Delhi as well, will commence this year.
9. Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor
The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor is a six-lane, 210 km highway which will cut down the travel time between the national capital and Dehradun to just 2.5 hours from 6 hours at present.
Starting at Akshardham in Delhi, the alignment runs through Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) Junction and Baghpat, Shamli, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh before ending at Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
Work on the Rs 12,000-crore project will be over by December end and is expected to open for vehicular traffic from 1 January next year.
It will also make the commute to the holy city of Haridwar easy for travellers due to two additional spurs: 50.7-km-long 6-lane Saharanpur-Roorkee-Haridwar Expressway and 101 km six-lane Ambala-Gangoh-Shamli Expressway.
10. Bhopal-Kanpur Economic Corridor
The 411 km, 6-lane economic corridor has an estimated cost of Rs 11,300 crore and will reduce the travel time between Bhopal and Kanpur from the present 15 hours to nine hours.
With the construction of this corridor, connectivity from Bhopal to Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi will be good.
The Bhopal-Kanpur Economic Corridor via Vidisha and Sagar will also make easier the transportation of cement and minerals and reduce the logistics cost.
As many as 17 airports are currently operational in the northeast region.
Replying to Darjeeling Lok Sabha member Raju Bista’s question, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy provided this information in the House on Monday.
As things stand today, the seven sister states of the northeast have airports at:
The most recent airport is Donyi Polo Airport which was inaugurated in October 2022. The greenfield airport lies at Hollongi, 15 km from Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh.
The state government has named the airport as “Donyi Polo Airport” to reflect the long-standing indigenous respect for the Sun (Donyi) and the Moon (Polo) among the populace.
The northeast has been an important component of air connectivity expansion.
To put this into perspective, in 2013, there were only nine airports in the northeast, which has now increased to 17. This means close to about eight new airports have been built in the last ten years.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started work on a new “super expressway” between Delhi and Jaipur that will reduce the distance between the two cities by around 40 km.
The eight-lane (expandable to 16 lanes) Delhi-Jaipur super expressway has been numbered as NH 352B.
The new e-way will, however, not originate in Delhi. It will branch out from the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway near the Kherki Daula toll plaza in Gurgaon and pass through seven districts before terminating near Chandwaji, north of Jaipur, the Rajasthan capital.
Proposed Alignment of Delhi-Jaipur Super Expressway.
The access-controlled corridor will be 195 km long, as opposed to around 235 km that one needs to travel to get to Jaipur from the same point, with a main carriageway of six lanes (three on each side).
The ‘super expressway’ will pass through 423 villages across Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Rewari and Mahendergarh in Haryana and Alwar, Sikar and Jaipur in Rajasthan.
According to a recent ground report by infrastructure video platform, RSlive, the NHAI has acquired 4,340 hectares in Haryana and Rajasthan for this mega infrastructure marvel.
The NHAI has already started earthworks on a majority of stretch and the project is expected to complete by 2025, said the report.
An estimated cost of Rs 6,530 crore will be spent on building this new expressway. Its rehabilitation and resettlement cost is also a sizable Rs 5,000 crore as most of the land that needs to be acquired for the project is privately owned.
Long Delay
The greenfield alignment was approved by the state government of Haryana and Rajasthan in 2012 and was approved by the Union government in 2015.
The initial plan involved a 226 km greenfield expressway starting near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi and terminating at Daulatpura in Jaipur.
However, the route was modified because of the cost factor and now the expressway will start at NH 48 near Gurgaon and terminate at the Pink City in Rajasthan.
Utility
The Gurgaon-Jaipur commute, which typically takes four to five hours, or even more in heavy traffic, could be completed in just 120 minutes with the implementation of the super e-way.
Currently there are two major routes between the two cities. The first one is Delhi-Jaipur National Highway, which connects the national capital with capital of Rajasthan through Gurugram. Also known as NH 48 (old NH8), the highway runs for 225 km through three states.
Once India’s most-celebrated highway, it is a nightmare now. It has large potholes on the highway showing poor maintenance, besides water-logging issues on service lane. The NHAI has undertaken repair work of the highway at a total cost of Rs 913 crore, by engaging as many as three separate teams of contractors.
The second route involves travelling through the recently inaugurated Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME).
Those travelling from Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan will have to take Delhi-Gurgaon expressway to Sohna and then use the DME stretch before making an exit at KM-180 which connects the Agra-Jaipur highway in Dausa. The NHAI is also building a 70 km greenfield link to connect the DME with Jaipur and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024.
The 246-km stretch will enable people to cover the Delhi-Jaipur stretch in about three hours, banking on eight lanes on each side, providing a smooth ride on the access-controlled road with an automated traffic management system.
The Mahrashtra government intends to speed up the completion of railway projects by adopting the policy of giving 50 per cent state share which was discontinued earlier.
The announcement was made by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis while presenting the state budget for the fiscal 2023-24 on 9 March and will help extend rail connectivity to rural underdeveloped areas of the state.
The government will provide 50 per cent state share for four new railway lines namely Nanded-Bidar, Phaltan-Pandharpur, Khamgaon-Jalna and Varora-Chimur-Kampa.
Similarly, the state share of Rs 452 crore will be provided for 84 km new broad gauge Solapur-Tuljapur-Dharashiv line, announced the budget.
Rail Lines Under Construction
Work is currently underway for a number of rail line projects in the state, prominent being Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli Vaijnath, Wardha-Yavatmal- Nanded, Vadsa-Desaiganj-Gadchiroli and Nagpur-Nagbhid.
The state’s annual economic survey, tabled by Fadnavis in the assembly on 8 March has provided a detailed status of on-going railway works in the state:
The status of on-going railway works.
The Union Budget for 2023 has already made a substantial provision of Rs 13,539 crore for the railway projects in Maharashtra.
Nashik-Pune Semi-High Speed Rail Project
The state government in the budget has assured adequate funds for the Nashik-Pune semi high-speed rail project. The project has already received “in-principal approval” from the Ministry of Railways.
A joint team of the state government and the Railways Ministry is currently preparing a technical appraisal of the project which will be submitted for the approval of the Union Cabinet.
As per the proposal prepared by Maharashtra Railway Infrastructure Development Corporation (MRIDC), the 235.15-km rail line will pass through three main districts of Maharashtra, ie, Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik.
The proposed alignment of Pune-Nashik semi high-speed rail line.
The train will stop at 24 stations — eight major and 16 small ones. At a speed of 200 kph, the distance between Pune and Nashik is expected to be covered in around two hours.
The semi high-speed rail link between Pune and Nashik will boost development of both the cities and provide seamless connectivity to the industrial zones of Pune and Nashik such as Alandi, Chakan, Khed, Manchar, Narayangaon, Sinnar and Satpur.
Gate Free Maharashtra
There are about 2,500 railway crossings in the state.
The budget has announced “Setubandhan” programme, under which flyovers, subways will be constructed at the level crossings.
At present 100 works are in progress and 25 flyovers will be commissioned by May 2023. Another 25 flyovers will be completed in 2023-24.
The government has presented a massive Rs 547,450 crore budget based on five major development goals, ‘Panchamrut’, of which infrastructure is the third amrut.
Maharashtra budget on Thursday allocated Rs 53,058.55 crore for the development of infrastructure with substantial capital investment.
The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government presented its first budget, a massive Rs 547,450 crore for the fiscal year 2023-24, based on five major development goals, ‘panchamrut’, of which infrastructure is the third amrut.
Let’s take a look at major announcements related to road sector made in the budget.
Samruddhi Mahamarg
The budget announced that Samruddhi highway will be expanded and a four-lane highway will be constructed from Sindkhedaraja node to Shegaon.
While Sindkhedraja is the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s mother Jijabai, Shegaon is known for Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan.
Officially known as Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, the 701-km-long expressway connects Mumbai and Nagpur.
The Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway.
Upto January 2023, about 90 per cent of work was completed on the eight-lane expressway. Out of this, the 520 km long Nagpur-Shirdi stretch of Samruddhi Mahamarg was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December.
Over 10 lakh vehicles have used the highway by February 2023, said the budget document.
Nagpur-Goa Maharashtra Shaktipeeth Highway
The 760 km Nagpur-Goa Expressway will run from Pawanar in Wardha district to Patradevi in Sindhudurg district, connecting four shaktipeethas — Mahur, Tuljapur, Kolhapur and Ambejogai.
The budget stated that technical and financial feasibility report of the expressway is currently being prepared and will entail an estimated expenditure of Rs 86,300 crore.
This highway passing through six districts namely Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Latur and Dharashiv will give strong support to the economy of Marathwada.
It will also boost the development of Wardha, Yavatmal, Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg districts.
Also called Maharashtra Shaktipeeth Highway, the greenfield expressway will also connect two Jyotirlingas — Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli district and Parli Vaijnath, Takht Sachkhand Shrihajur Sahib Gurdwara at Nanded and Maharashtra’s reigning deity Vitthal Rukhmai at Pandharpur.
Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link
The budget has made a provision of Rs 6,695 crore for the construction of the missing link between Khopoli and Khandala on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
The road will connect Khalapur Toll Booth point with Kusgaon, bypassing the expressway’s entire ghat (hill) section.
The Mumbai Pune missing link.
The “missing link” project on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway has attained 60 per cent progress and is targeted to be ready by December 2023.
Once open to traffic, the missing link will prevent bottlenecks at Khandala, providing for a seamless travelling experience. The project is proposed to make the expressway a “zero-fatality corridor”.
Pune Ring Road
The state government has assured adequate funds for acquiring land for the proposed 172km ring road.
The work of Pune Ring Road has been undertaken at a cost of Rs 27,000 crore in order to reduce the traffic congestion in Pune city. In the budget for FY 2022-23, Rs 1,000 crore was allotted to it.
A total of Rs 10,000 crore is required for the project’s land acquisition. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had demanded Rs 2,000 crore from the state government ahead of the budget.
The ring road project has been divided into the eastern and the western zones.
The Pune Ring Road alignment.
The eastern zone of the ring road would pass through Mawal and Kelawade. The western zone of the ring road would be via Bhor, Haveli and Mulshi talukas of the district.
The land acquisition process for the western phase has commenced. The same for the eastern phase would commence in July-August after the funds were received, said an MSRDC official.
Virar-Alibaug Multi-Modal Corridor
The 126 km long multi-modal corridor from Navghar in Virar to Chirner in Uran is an important route connecting several national highways, Navi Mumbai International Airport, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL), Delhi-Mumbai dedicated freight corridor and Revas Port.
The corridor includes rapid bus transit, metro rail, water supply lines, gas lines and sewage lines and will be developed in two phases, 79 km Phase 1 from Navghar to Chirner near JNPT and 47 km Phase 2 from Chirner to Alibaug.
Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor.
The multi-modal corridor will be a crucial step towards development, strengthening and creating job opportunities in seven growth centres in MMR such as Virar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Dombivali, Panvel, Taloja and Uran.
This corridor will carry all the traffic from JNPT towards Navi Mumbai and Thane outside the city and will help reduce traffic congestion within the city. The travel time between Virar to Alibaug required today will also be reduced by 50 per cent.
To be built at an estimated cost of Rs 40,000 crore, the project is expected to be finished by 2026.
The feasibility report for both phases has been completed and the process for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) is currently underway, noted the budget.
Revas Coastal Highway
The work of the coastal highway from Revas in Raigad district to Reddi in Sindhudurg district is currently underway.
The Revas-Reddi Coastal Highway, named as Maharashtra State Highway 4 (MSH-4) is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 9,573 crore.
Integrated Traffic Management System
The budget has announced the implementation of Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS) on nine highways, namely, Mumbai-Kolhapur, Thane-Dhule, Nashik-Pune, Solapur-Beed, Nagpur-Chandrapur, Nagpur- Amravati, Ghodbandar-Achad, Ahmednagar-Pune and Akola-Washim.
ITMS project aims to achieve traffic efficiency by minimising traffic problems and include systems such as Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS), Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) System, Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD) System and Speed Violation and Detection.
The system is currently under implementation on Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Samruddhi Highway.
Deadlines
These marquee projects are being executed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) mainly through private participation.
Below is the status of all ongoing projects in the state which is being executed by MSRDC.
The under-construction Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will be connected with the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
The plan to link two critical infra projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan region (MMR) is an attempt to solve heavy traffic jams and was disclosed by the officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
The plan was almost a decade old, however, it could not get implemented due to the delay in the MTHL.
As per the basic plan the MTHL will land into Chirle in Navi Mumbai, and an elevated corridor, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1000 crore, connecting the expressway to MTHL with an interchange at Chirle.
Chirle is a fast-developing residential area adjoining Uran and Ulwe, on the outskirts of Navi Mumbai.
The new corridor will help the commuters to directly reach Pune from Worli in South Mumbai without getting stuck in the traffic and will also save travel time by over an hour.
The MMRDA has undertaken the implementation of the MTHL project connecting Sewri on Mumbai side to Chirle on Navi Mumbai side.
Popularly known as the Sewri Nhava Sheva Harbour Link, the MTHL is a 22-km-long six-lane bridge, 16.5 km of which would be over the sea and about 5.5 km viaduct on land on either side
Touted as India’s longest sea bridge, the sea link reduces the travel time between South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to just 20 minutes from the present two hours.
Currently, 93 per cent of the work on the project is complete and the bridge is expected to open in December 2023.
