MC Exclusive I Delhi-Mumbai express highway will be completed by December: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways

The 1,386-km-long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, being developed at an estimated cost of over Rs 1 lakh crore, will be ready by December, reducing the time taken to travel between the two cities to 12 hours, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol. "We have completed the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway up to Vadodara till now and soon the Prime Minister will open another section on this highway which goes till Ratlam," he said.

He added that the Delhi-Mumbai expressway had been completed up to Surat and the tendering process for construction beyond Surat had been divided into 12 packages.

"Six packages out of the 12 packages have been awarded till now and work has started on the Solapur package. There were some environmental problems from Surat to Nashik. Now that has also been dissolved," Gadkari said.

The minister also said that he was confident that around 70-80 percent of the work to reduce the distance between Delhi and Chennai by 320 km will also be completed by the end of the year.

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The Centre is planning to have the Prime Minister inaugurate a 244-km stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway, in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh soon.

The eight-lane section of the Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai expressway in Madhya Pradesh starts from Neemthur village on the Rajasthan border and ends at Timarwani village, from where it will enter Gujarat.

Passing through Mandsaur, Ratlam and Jhabua districts in Madhya Pradesh, the expressway will connect major cities, including Garoth, Jaora, Ratlam, and Thandla in the state.

Furthermore, the construction of the planned 1,270-km Surat - Chennai Expressway, the second longest expressway in India, started in January 2023 will be built at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore.

Gadkari also emphasised on the need for sustainable construction models and practices to go hand in hand with India's push for infrastructure growth.

"We have taken a number of decisions keeping the environment and ecology in mind while constructing roads and highways in India, including installing bamboo crash barriers on highways, and using waste tyre materials to produce rubberised bitumen," the minister said.

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Gadkari added that so far 703 km of National Highways have been constructed with waste plastic in the wearing coat of flexible pavements.

The minister also said that he is soon planning to launch a policy for using municipal waste in road construction.

He added that his ministry had issued guidelines for mandatory use of waste plastic in periodic renewal with hot mixes and in the wearing coat of service roads on national highways within a 50 km periphery of an urban area having a population of more than 5 lakhs.

However, the minister did say that going forward, especially for the construction of roads in hilly areas, the government will invite foreign companies and work with governments of other countries to make better roads in states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, and the North-Eastern states.

"I admit that it is time that we reach out to consultants from around the world and refer to international standards to maintain the safety of the people, that is very important. Green fuel and safety is very important for all of us, and that is our highest priority at the moment," Gadkari said.

He added that in August he had visited various parts of Himachal Pradesh to review the havoc and devastation caused by unprecedented rains and flash floods in the state.

Gadkari added that it would be foolish to blame anyone for such natural disasters. However, he said that the authorities who allowed rampant construction by the riverside should not allow such a thing in the future.

"A team of experts from Switzerland has been involved and they have made a presentation. To start with, we are working on a flood protection plan," Gadkari said.

The minister also said that both a short-term and long-term strategy is being discussed at the moment to address the issues in Himachal Pradesh.