Two additional almost 200-kilometre sections of the much-awaited Delhi-Mumbai expressway can be expected in the next six months, government documents seen by News18 show. The 159-km Sawai Madhopur-Jhalawar section is expected to be ready by August, offering seamless travel from Delhi to the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat border. However, a small part in Rajasthan – an eight-kilometre tunnel – will not be ready.
Speaking to News18, a ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) official explained that an old existing road can be used for this stretch.
The MoRTH documents seen by News18 show that two additional sections – also including the 38-km Bharuch-Surat stretch – will be ready this year. While the deadline for the section up to Jhalawar is August 2024, for the section in Gujarat it is December 2024.
Three sections of the 1,386-km expressway are already operational – the 293-km Delhi-Dausa-Sawai Madhopur section, 245-km Jhalawar-Ratlam-MP/Gujarat Border, and 87-km Vadodara-Baruch section – making up for more than half of the access control road.
The entire 845-km Delhi-Vadodara section is expected to be ready by March 2025 while the 450-km Vadodara-Mumbai section is expected by October 2025.
The 90-km DND Sohna and Jewar part of the road is expected by July 2025, the documents show.
The Delhi-Mumbai expressway, covering Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, is being developed at a cost of about Rs 1 lakh crore. Once completed, the 1,386-km expressway will be the longest in India. It is expected to halve the commute time between Delhi and Mumbai, from nearly 24 hours to 12 hours, and shorten the distance by 130 km.
As per the ministry, the Delhi-Mumbai greenfield expressway is generating employment of 50 lakh man-days during the construction phase.
It is being developed with an 8-lane configuration and has provision to expand to 12 lanes in the future, with a design speed of 120 km/hr. Currently, the two cities – Mumbai and Delhi – are connected by NH-48 which is longer (1,440 km) as well as congested.
The new road will also offer alternate connectivity to Jaipur, Kota, Chittorgarh, Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara and will reduce distances and travel time.
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