Riding through India's 'fastest expressway' will be an expensive affair

Dubbed India’s fastest road, the Samruddhi Expressway, will reduce travel time between Nagpur and Mumbai to 8 hours from the current 15 hours. The road, according to reports, is designed in such a way that vehicles can speed up to 150 km/hour.

But the benefit will come with a cost.

A ride between Maharashtra capital and its second capital by a lightweight vehicle (LWV) or a car could invite a one-way toll of Rs 1,100, said Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s joint managing director Anil Kumar Gaikwad.

Every lightweight vehicle will be charged Rs 1.65 per km and the money will be levied for the actual distance travelled. For heavy vehicles, the toll will be thrice the rate for light vehicles.

The Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway project was envisaged by former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis when the BJP-Shiv Sena was in an alliance. The project work had started during Fadnavis’ term but it got delayed initially due to land acquisition challenges and later due to COVID. It is a one-of-its-kind project and India’s longest expressway to date.

The high-speed corridor will cost Rs 5,500 crore and is expected to be complete by the end of 2022. Public Works Minister Eknath Shinde has assured the project cost won’t escalate any further.

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Recently, minister Shinde and Anil Kumar Gaikwad inspected the ongoing work and set a revised deadline for the completion of the project. Shinde said the stretch of road between Nagpur and Shirdi will become operational by December this year and the road up to Thane will be ready by December 2022.

Shinde said the ambitious project is about 70 per cent complete and is expected to be operational in record time. He said COVID posed a big challenge because 40% of workers left during the pandemic. “However things have been streamlined now with 35,000 workers and 5,500 machines at work now,” said Shinde.

The Maharashtra government believes the Samruddhi Mahamarg (expressway) will prove a game-changer for the state by encouraging industrial development in the backward Vidarbha and Konkan regions. Shinde also said that the expressway will go all the way up to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (Bombay port) and facilitate exports.

The state government also plans to set up a 250 MW solar plant along the corridor and plant 11 lakh trees.