Mumbai-Goa highway will be pothole-free

The 471-km long Mumbai-Goa highway that has seen 497 deaths and over 1,772 people grievously injured in 2010 is soon to undergo a makeover.

The 471-km long Mumbai-Goa highway that has seen 497 deaths and over 1,772 people grievously injured in 2010 is soon to undergo a makeover.

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The road starts from Mumbai through Panvel, Raigad and travels through Ratnagiri up to Sindhudurg.

“There have been complaints of accidents due to bad condition of the road,” Ranjit Kamble, minister of state for roads (PWD), told the Legislative Council on Thursday. “The road will be made free of potholes before this monsoon. The Centre has sanctioned Rs80 crore for the purpose and we have received Rs52 crore.”

Kamble was replying to a question raised by Shiv Sena member of legislative council Parshuram Uparkar.

“The road runs through hills and has sharp twists and turns with trees coming in between. There were plans to revamp the highway which never took off,” Uparkar said.

Kamble told the council that Rs946 crore had been set aside for widening the highway to a four-lane road and the first phase of Rs57 crore had already started. This phase will join Zharap to Patradevi at Sawantwadi.

“We issued tenders for the first phase on January 21 and it is expected to be completed by May 2012,” Kamble said.

Kamble said the biggest issue they were facing was that they would will need to cut through 74 villages, the Arnala forest sanctuary and 31 hectare of forest land.

The government has sough a feasibility report for the second and third phase, Kamble said.