Delhi-Mumbai Expressway to reduce travel time to 12-13 hours

Under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken up Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, which will reduce the travel time between Delhi and Mumbai to 12-13 hours.

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is about 1400 km in length, and the authority is hopeful to complete the project by 2023. Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was conceptualised, designed, and started in 2019.

The first edition of the National Road Infra Conclave (NRIC), organised by FinancialExpress.com, discussed rising opportunities and trends in the road infrastructure sector. Besides, it also examined the impact of government policies and initiatives while determining the strategies for the faster implementation of road projects.

While National Highways and the State Highways contribute to only about 3% of the overall road network in India, they cater to 80% of the national freight traffic, said Alka Upadhyaya, Chairperson, NHAI.

Upadhyaya said that some of the initiatives taken by the NHAI have also contributed in a big way in terms of having a very high multiplier effect on the road sector in India.

In the 2000 decades, some of the works begun by the government at that point in time in terms of the Golden Quadrilateral, the east-west, and the north-south corridors laid the foundation for world-class infrastructure for the country and kind of brought a paradigm shift to all of us.

The government is constructing several national highways, access-controlled expressways, freeways, and greenfield expressways through Bharatmala Pariyojna, which will transform the basic canvas of road infrastructure in India.

The Bharatmala Pariyojna is envisaged for the development of about 34,800 km at Rs 5.35 lakh crores. At present, the NHAI is looking at the development of 22 greenfield expressways and access-controlled corridors, and in Bharatmala Pariyojna, the authority expects to tender out the works by 2023-24 so that the rest of the time can be used for finishing the works taken up under Bharatmala-1 as the NHAI also has Bharatmala-2 coming up with due permission of the government.

So far, the NHAI has proposed 22 greenfield corridors, which will have a lot of savings on CO2 emissions. These corridors are anticipated to save about Rs 10,000 crore in fuel savings. India took up 95 km long Mumbai-Pune expressway in 2002, and till 2019, the government was able to take up only 1359 km of road under expressways.

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