Centre okays new highway projects for Maharashtra

The Centre has approved new National Highway projects worth Rs.58.01 bn for Maharashtra under the Annual Plan. These include improving and developing 1035 km of National Highways in the state. In addition, Rs.18 bn worth of projects under the Central Road Fund scheme have also been sanctioned. The Rs.1 trillion greenfield Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be extended till the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to facilitate container traffic. The Maharashtra Government will partner in its construction by means of GST exemption and royalty-free supply of steel and cement, which will be considered as state government equity in the project. Further, to decongest the Mumbai-Pune stretch, a separate North-South Highway corridor from Surat via Nashik-Ahmednagar-Solapur would be built.