Big boon for city MSIDC to develop 230 km highway between Sambhaji Nagar and Pune

 

 

 

 

 

For thousands of Nagpurians residing at Pune, there is some good news as Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC) has been entrusted with the work of developing a 230 km greenfield 6-lane highway from Sambhaji Nagar to Pune. This highway is going to overlap with Samruddhi Highway and it will be a boon for people of Vidarbha and especially Nagpur, as it would cut down the travel time between two cities considerably. At the most now, Pune can be reached within six hours and this could end dependency on trains, airplanes and sleeper buses, that remain jam packed throughout the year.

 

On Friday, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Public Works Department (PWD) in city at a function held at Hotel Raddison Blu. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were present at the programme. The project is going to be developed by MSIDC on behalf of PWD. Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said that the 230 km project is going to be financially viable as average earnings from collection of toll would be around Rs 100 crore per month. There is huge volume of traffic on the route as this is one of the busiest industrial corridors of the State on the Pune-Sambhaji Nagar route. Additionally, Gadkari asked MSIDC to also upgrade the old State highway on Sambhaji Nagar to Pune and same would then provide more revenue stream for MSIDC. In fact, the stretch identified for greenfield project is going to pass through the backward areas of Ahmed Nagar and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, which will benefit the area in near future. Further, given the volume of earnings, MSIDC can raise its initial capital from this lone project itself.

 

In his address, Devendra Fadnavis said that the project is a landmark undertaking and is being taken-up with vision of ensuring zero carbon emission, which is being talked about by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The new highway is the need of the hour and it will be dotted with greenery. Earlier, Dr Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director, MSIDC, in his welcome address, informed about the importance of the project. The MoU was signed by Dinesh Nandanwar, Chief Engineer, PWD, and Mayur Govekar, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Anshumali Shrivastav, Regional Officer, NHAI, Mumbai Region, was also present on the occasion.