“The ambitious project is my concept. The work on the project started when I was Chief Minister,” declared the BJP leader
Nagpur: “No matter how hard the efforts made by anybody, my name would not be erased from the ambitious Samruddhi Mahamarg project. I was conceptualising the project in my mind for 20 years. And when the people gave me an opportunity to become Chief Minister, construction of the Nagpur Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg started,” said the former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He was interacting with the media in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Fadnavis’ remark came after a credit game erupted over the Mahamarg. “It is heartening to note that those people who were opposing the Samruddhi Mahamarg project are now hurrying to inaugurate the project to grab credit,” Fadnavis said, taking a dig at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. “But the inauguration should take place only after full completion of the project otherwise the project would lose importance,” he added.
The first phase of Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg was completed during the tenure of Thackeray Government. It is learnt that the project could be inaugurated on Maharashtra Day on May 1 this year.
While describing it as the most significant infrastructure project, Fadnavis said, “We believe this is one project which has immense potential to change the destiny of people. It will bridge the divide between rural and urban areas. It will have a direct bearing on the socio-economic activities in 24 districts across regions — Marathwada, Vidarbha, parts of North Maharashtra, Western and Konkan.”
Key features of the Samruddhi Mahamarg:
• The Expressway will be 701 km long, directly connecting ten districts, twenty-six talukas and around 392 villages.
• It will have a speed limit of 150 km which will bring Nagpur and Mumbai within 8 hours reach. Thus, travel time from Mumbai to Aurangabad will be 4 hours and from Aurangabad to Nagpur, another 4 hours.
• The Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway project will pass through 12 districts – Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal, Washim, Akola, Buldhana, Jalna, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Thane, and Mumbai.
It will connect several industrial areas, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) , the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), dry ports of Wardha and Jalna and Mumbai’s JNPT.
• The expressway, having a total width of 120m with a central median of 22.5m will follow the international standards of design. There will be 8 lanes, 4 on each side. In case there is a need to increase lanes on either side, a provision has been made in the center of the expressway. Thus, no more land will be required for expansion in future.
•It will have service roads on both sides that will connect through underpasses.
• It will have around 50+ flyovers, 24+ interchanges, more than 5 tunnels, 400+ vehicular and 300+ pedestrian underpasses provided at strategic locations. These underpasses and flyovers will be beneficial to those vehicles leaving or joining the expressway without disturbing the traffic flow. It will also benefit local citizens to go about their travel without any hindrance and also prevent accidents.
• Extensive landscaping, tunnel lighting, bridge beautification, improved street lighting and digital signage will be used throughout the length of the expressway.
• The entry and exit at the expressway will be managed and toll will be charged based on the distance travelled. The toll collection is proposed to be automated.
• The expressway will be a Zero Fatality Mahamarg; it will have CCTV surveillance and free telephone booths at every 5 km to allow reporting in case of any accidents and emergencies.
• Utility Mahamarg along the expressway will be provided for OFC cables, gas pipelines, electricity lines, etc.
• In case of any emergency, natural disaster or in a war-like situation, a facility to land an airplane on the expressway is proposed by temporarily converting the expressway to a runway.
