MRSDC speeds up ₹46,000-cr Samrudhi Expressway

The most ambitious 700-km long Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi expressway in Maharashtra crisscrossing 10 districts and 26 talukas of the state is being built at an investment of ₹46,000 crores. The alignment from Thane to Nagpur is billed as a regional development project as it will provide port connectivity to the hinterlands of the state, involve agro development nodes or Krushi Samruddi Kendras and incorporate features like automatic number plate registration, access control and an underground network of optical fibre and utilities. MSRDC sources said that the road would have a better design and quality of construction to minimize mishaps. The construction of the Samruddi expressway by MSRDC has been divided into 16 packages and work is underway. The Nagpur-Nashik stretch is expected to be completed in 30 months (by mid-2021), while the Nashik-Thane stretch that involves construction of huge tunnels will take six months more.