Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday visited Shivni (Rasulpur) in Amravati district and reviewed the ongoing work for Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi corridor, a new expressway expected to cut down the travel time between the two cities to eight hours from the nearly 18 hours it currently takes.
Speaking to the media on the inspection site, CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray said;"This is my first visit to the HinduHriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Highway project. Exceptional work is underway. After the completion of this project, Maharashtra will be proud of the work and at the efficiency of the highway."
He further said,"The project is on fast track. It was expected that lockdown would hamper the pace of the highway construction, or it might stop for a while but the work has not slowed down. I am confident that we will be able to travel from Nagpur to Shirdi on this highway by coming 1st May."
The CM expressing satisfaction over the work said, "The work on this route is going very well and we are completing it by taking all due care. We will reach Shirdi by the upcoming 1st May and by the next 1st May we will reach Mumbai."
The 701 km ambitious expressway is expected to be fully operational by May 1, 2022, connecting the State’s capital with its second capital at a total project cost of around Rs 55,000 crore.
The expressway will connect 10 districts, 26 talukas and 392 villages between Mumbai and Nagpur. With 24 interchanges, it will also connect many tourism locations like Lonar lake, Ajantha-Ellora caves, Pench National Park, Shegaon, Sevagram, Shirdi, Bibi Ka Maqbara and Daulatabad.