Delhi-Mumbai expressway work to start from December

August 25, 2018: The expressway construction to connect Delhi with Mumbai will begin from December and will be completed within three years, union minister of road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari has said.

The ambitious project that is estimated to cost around Rs 1-trillion, was announced by the government this April. As per the original plan, the road was to run parallel to the existing highway (NH-8). However, the alignment was later changed to run it more eastwards due to high land acquisition cost.

The new alignment will see the expressway beginning from Gurugram on the Delhi outskirts and running parallel to the existing highway up to Jaipur, from where it will turn eastwards to Alwar, the tribal district of Jhabua and Ratlam in western MP and then move westwards to Baroda, the minister said.

Gadkari also stated that the new alignment has saved government over Rs 16,000 crore. While an acre is coming in at Rs 7 crore according to the original alignment, the new alignment has brought it down to Rs 80 lakh a hectare. The land alone will cost around Rs 6,000 crore.

He informed that the expressway will stretch across the states covering two of the nation's most backward districts, Mewat in Haryana and Dahod in Gujarat. The whole route will be: Delhi-Gurugram-Mewat-Kota-Ratlam-Godhra-Vadodara-Surat-Dahisar -Mumbai.

Gadkari said the biggest objective of the project is to decongest Delhi-NCR as with all the truck traffic which now pass through the outskirts of Delhi will ply past the already congested and polluted national capital. About three lakh vehicles daily ply on the NH-8.