Modi govt plans new Delhi-Mumbai express highway at cost of Rs 1 lakh crore: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said a new express highway connecting Delhi and Mumbai will be built at a cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. The transport and highways minister also talked about plans to build Chambal expressway that would be connected to the Delhi-Mumbai expressway. The Chambal expressway will benefit states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Gadkari has announced development of a new highway alignment between Delhi and Mumbai, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement. "A sum of Rs 1 lakh crore will be spent on this expressway ... Nitin Gadkari outlined major initiatives of his ministry for de-congestion of Delhi NCR. A total of ten projects are underway costing Rs 35,600 crore," it said. About 40,000 commercial vehicles enter Delhi on a daily basis, which cause pollution and congestion in the city state, Gadkari, who is also holding the portfolio of water resources and Ganga rejuvenation, said in the statement. An ambitious scheme of developing Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways around Delhi was taken up, and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 29. Similarly, to ease traffic in East Delhi, Delhi-Meerut Expressway was envisaged, and its Delhi-Dasna portion will also be inaugurated by the prime minister on the same day by a road show. Gadkari informed that work on signal-free corridor from Dhaula Kuan to Airport has been awarded at a cost of Rs 260 crore. He said, eight-lane fully access-controlled Dwarka Expressway is being developed in four packages. While three packages have already been awarded, the work on the expressway is likely to start in a month's time. Total investment on the project is Rs 9,500 crore. Additionally, under improvement of Mahipalpur at Rangpuri, a bypass is being envisaged to connect Dwarka/ NH8, he said. Regarding development of major junctions on NH8 in Gurugram like the flyover and underpass at IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower intersection, Rajiv Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk, the minister said the work costing Rs 1,000 crore has been substantially completed.