The Mumbai-Delhi Expressway project is 70 per cent complete while the languishing Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project willA be expedited and along with the Nagpur-Mumbai SuperExpressway and other major projects, Maharashtra's economic growth will get a boost, top leaders said here on Friday.
Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that with more than two-thirds work done on the Rs 100,000 crore Mumbai-Delhi Expressway, the travel time between the country's capital and commercial capital will be slashed to just 12 hours.
"It's my dream to establish seamless connectivity from Nariman Point in Mumbai to Delhi through a network of coastal road and sea-link till Virar and beyond with a project outlay of Rs 50,000 crore," said Gadkari, addressing a conclave organised by the CII here.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the Bullet Train project has been given a push after the new government headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took over in Maharashtra.
"Owing to certain reasons, Maharashtra languished while Gujarat worked swiftly on the Bullet Train. But we shall cope up, not just as a Bullet Train, but also as a beginning of a new era in transportation," he said.
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Shinde said the state government is focussing to create 15 industrial corridors in the state and promised to work with the Centre to create "a pro-industry eco-system".
Gadkari unraveled plans for direct road connections from Mumbai to Bengaluru through the Westerly Bypass on Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Pune Ring Road, besides a new Pune-Aurangabad road alignment to cut the travel time to just 2 hours, plus a connect between Surat-Nashik-Ahmednagar-Solapur which would divert 50 percent of south-bound road traffic from north India and reduce air pollution in Thane, Mumbai, and Pune.
He urged Shinde and Fadnavis to take up the land acquisition work and also waive off GST on various raw materials needed for these projects.
Describing Maharashtra as the "growth engine" of Indian economy, he said the state would have to contribute majorly in all fields like agriculture, industry and services to help India realise the dream of becoming a $5 Trillion economy.
