Samruddhi expressway to be linked to Vadhvan port

Time of India

a day ago

Mumbai: Maharashtra will connect the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi expressway corridor to the upcoming greenfield Vadhvan port, slated to be the country's biggest such facility, via the Nashik highway, the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai greenfield expressway corridor, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, the under-construction bullet train corridor, and the coastal road that is planned to be extended up to the port.
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"The Prosperity corridor will have up to 500 MW to 1,000 MW capacity solar plant along it with 200 MW starting soon, besides a huge gas pipeline that will supply PNG not only to cities but also to power and steel plants right up to Gadchiroli to achieve decarbonisation targets. Every 500 metres to a kilometre there is a groundwater recharge facility and ponds to hold rainwater," said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis soon after opening the 76 km last leg of Samruddhi between Igatpuri and Bhiwandi.
He announced that very soon, work on the Rs 80,000 crore Shaktipeeth corridor from Nagpur to the Goa border via Marathwada and Western Maharashtra will also be started in full swing.
Deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar were present at the Samruddhi inauguration, besides scores of ministers and legislators. The CM and his deputies also opened the south-bound arm of the Vashi creek bridge through an online event.
"Samruddhi expressway is not just a road; it is a green corridor for Maharashtra's fast-emerging economy as 24 districts of Maharashtra have been connected to JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) and eventually to Vadhwan. Special wildlife infrastructure with 100 animal overpasses and underpasses have been constructed to ensure their safe passage. A total of seven tunnels have been built; the one between Igatpuri and Kasara being the widest in the country.
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We will break this record once the Pune-Mumbai missing link tunnel is completed. The interchanges on the Samruddhi expressway look like art work drawn on paper. Inside the tunnel, artificial rainfall will begin when the temperature crosses 60 degrees due to a fire incident and will stop when it drops to 30 degrees," he said while interacting with the media at Igatpuri.
The tunnel was built by Afcons.
Fadnavis said over 3.3 million plantations were done using local species.
"While building the road, 1,000 farm ponds were created. We are prepared to generate 200 MW of solar power and 22 amenity centres have been set up. A gas pipeline will also reach from Konkan to Nagpur, providing gas to people and industries. Religious places like Shirdi, Shegaon and Trimbakeshwar will come closer. Now we want to construct the Shaktipeeth expressway as well on a fast-track basis," he said.
Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde termed Samruddhi a game-changer.
"It was one of the toughest and most challenging projects and will greatly benefit people and businesses. A journey that took 18 hours will now take only eight hours — saving both fuel and time. We paid attention to even the smallest details. Around 1.1 million large trees and 2.2 million small plants will be planted, making the expressway the most eco-friendly project ever," he said, pointing out that the road will boost agriculture, tourism, and industry.
A farmer starting in the morning from Nagpur with produce used to reach Mumbai in three days. Now, he can reach by evening," he added.
Shinde said the Shaktipeeth expressway will be a game-changer for Marathwada as farmers won't commit suicide anymore. After the inauguration, the chief minister and his deputies inspected the longest Igatpuri tunnel of the expressway and viaduct in the stretch. To conduct an inspection of the expressway, Dy CM Shinde drove a high-end car with CM Fadnavis sitting beside him in the front seat and Pawar occupying the back seat.
The inspection lasted around 45 minutes, including the time taken for the journey between Igatpuri and Amane. On the way back, Fadnavis and Shinde swapped seats with the CM getting behind the wheel, while Pawar remained in the same seat.
The newly-constructed third creek bridge near Vashi Sion-Panvel Highway was also inaugurated via video conferencing on the occasion.
The earlier operational 625 km of the expressway stretch was used by nearly two crore vehicles in the last two years.
The maximum speed limit on the expressway is 100 kmh in ghat sections and 120 kmh on flat terrain. The expressway traverses through 392 villages in 26 talukas across 10 districts in five revenue divisions. A smart integrated traffic management system (ITMS) will be installed on the expressway soon, the CM said, adding they gave the 'right of way' to the Gas Authority of India Ltd for laying the pipeline while making the access control road between Mumbai and Nagpur.
Dy CM Ajit Pawar said many, including farmers from his party, opposed the Samruddhi project at the beginning, but when CM Fadnavis announced very attractive compensation, they all sided with the project and accepted money. "The project was estimated to cost Rs 55,500 crore but eventually went well above Rs 61,000 crore. Around 12 crore cement bags were used in the project. Fadnavis started the project when he was CM, and now it was inaugurated during his second term, and such continuity is rare in politics.
And also let's not forget the contribution of Eknath Shinde," he said.