Mumbai: The 157km Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, part of the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor, will be commissioned by August 31, said CM Devendra Fadnavis. Once commissioned, the travel time between Vadodara to Mumbai will be reduced from the eight hours to about four.It will provide a fast, safe, and traffic jam-free travel experience and also boost commercial transport, said the CM.On Sunday, Fadnavis, accompanied by state forest minister Ganesh Naik and fisheries minister Nitesh Rane, carried out an inspection of the works currently underway of various infrastructure projects in Palghar district.The 1,400km, eight-lane greenfield access-controlled expressway is being built by the Centre at a cost of about Rs 1 lakh crore. It will connect the five states of Haryana , Rajasthan , Madhya Pradesh , Gujarat and Maharashtra. After the completion of this route, the journey between Delhi and Mumbai will be significantly faster and connectivity between the major industrial belts of the country will be more efficient, said Fadnavis. The highlight of this project is its direct connectivity with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) . This will make freight transport from North India to JNPA faster, more efficient and less costly, giving a major boost to the country’s logistics chain, he added.The CM directed officials at the site to focus on quality work, along with timely completion of the project.The Vadodara-Mumbai section is estimated to cost Rs 24,000 crore. The construction work was divided into seven packages, of which five have been completed. The two remaining packages are expected to be completed by August, said Fadnavis. The time and fuel wastage caused by the current traffic congestion on the Thane, Bhiwandi, and Ghodbunder routes will be reduced, providing a faster and more reliable alternative route for freight traffic.
