MoRTH plans to take over ₹50,000-cr Vasai-Virar coastal road project

The Union transport ministry has planned to takeover state's ₹50,000 crore coastal road project connecting Versova and Vasai-Virar, a 43 km distance, and build it as part of ongoing ₹1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai expressway project. Transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, exhorted the state government to waive off GST on steel and royalty on cement besides clearing some land parcels for its construction activities to facilitate the early completion of this crucial project. He stressed the need for establishing seamless connectivity from Mumbai to Delhi through a network of coastal road and sea-link up to Vasai -Virar and beyond.

As per the pre-feasibility study, the sea-link is proposed to be built with connectors at Charkop, Uttan, Vasai and Virar. The 4+4 lane main bridge will connect Versova to Virar with 3+3 lane connectors at these four locations. With the coastal road, the Bandra-Worli sea link, Bandra-Versova sea link and the Virar extension, the project promises to reduce the travel distance from Nariman Point in south Mumbai to Virar (almost 60 km) from the current three hours' drive. He also informed about the plans to build direct road connection from Mumbai to Bangalore through Westerly Bypass of the Mumbai – Pune Expressway and the Pune ring road for which the road alignment plan has already been prepared.