Maharashtra plans Rs 6-trillion infrastructure upgrade

28 Sep 2022 CW Team

The Maharashtra government is planning a major overhaul of the state's infrastructure, from airports and ports to expressways and railway networks, at an estimated cost of Rs 5-6 trillion. The War Room, a brainchild of Devendra Fadnavis when he was chief minister in 2014, is back in action and this time there are grander plans.

Some of the new projects planned include creating an expressway grid comprising six-eight-lane roads that connects all districts of the state. State government officials said nine new expressways were being planned, one of which will be the Pune-Nashik eight-lane expressway. The estimated cost of these nine expressways is Rs 2.35 trillion.

The War Room is also planning a Mumbai to Konkan six-lane expressway between would originate from Pen near Panvel and Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg, which will cost around Rs 800 billion. Those involved in the planning of the Mumbai-Konkan Expressway said that instead of the current long-winding routes between Mumbai and Konkan, the new expressways would be straight roads cutting across all coastal districts.

The state is also planning to upgrade its tier-3 airports to tier-2 ones by upgrading their infrastructure. Some of the airports that would be undertaken for this upgradation would be the ones at Sangli, Amravati and Gondhia.

The Maharashtra government has appointed IAS officer Radhyesham Mopalwar as Director General (War Room Infrastructure). He is known for the speedy execution of projects like the Samruddhi Mahamarg (Mumbai to Nagpur Super Expressway).