Your Mumbai-Nagpur commute is set to get faster, 27 firms queue up to build expressway

Mumbai city news: The corporation is currently facing opposition from farmers who are unwilling to sell their lands

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) received 27 bids after it invited tenders in January to construct the Rs46,000-crore Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway.

The expressway, named ‘Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor’, will pass through Vidarbha and Marathwada. (Representational photo)

The corporation divided the work into 16 parts to ensure to speed up the construction. “We have received 27 bids for the project,” said Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director, MSRDC. “This is a good response. We are evaluating the offers,” he said.

With a 2019 deadline, the real challenge for the MSRDC is to acquire 20,820 hectares of land required for the project.

The corporation is currently facing opposition from farmers who are unwilling to sell their lands. Out of the 10 districts that the expressway is supposed to pass through, it is mostly the famers in Nashik who are opposing the project.

However, the MSRDC officials said that they are hopeful of starting the construction work by October-end. “Acquiring land is the most important step,” said an official. “We have the clearances and funds but there is some opposition which we are trying to overcome. We are carrying out the bidding process and should be able to start work by October-end” he said.

An official said that of the total project cost of Rs46,000 crore, around Rs24,000 crore was required for construction, while the rest would be needed for land acquisition development of nodes and more.

The expressway, named ‘Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor’, will pass through Vidarbha and Marathwada. The project is also expected to generate jobs for people in the region.