Abhi Delhi Door Hai: Hold Your Plans for a Non-Stop Drive from Delhi to Mumbai
Abhi Delhi Door Hai: Hold Your Plans for a Non-Stop Drive from Delhi to Mumbai
Revised Completion Target for Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Now Set for October 2024
The highly anticipated Delhi-Mumbai expressway faces significant delays, pushing the revised completion target to October 2024. This is well beyond the initial deadline of January 2023. Of the total 1,386 km, only 630 km are currently operational, including sections like Sohna-Dausa-Sawai Madhopur and Jhalawar-MP/Gujarat border. The Sohna-Vadodara section is expected to open by March 2025, passing through seven states.
The primary cause of the delays is land acquisition issues, particularly in Gujarat, despite proactive measures by the state. The construction costs for specific sections are notably high, with Valsad costing Rs 3,633 crore and Navsari Rs 2,287 crore. While construction began in April this year, the project aims to enhance connectivity with Jewar Airport, the DND Flyway and JNPT Mumbai.
Government sources indicate that a non-stop drive from Delhi to Mumbai will not be possible for more than a year. The flagship Delhi-Mumbai expressway project, now expected to be fully operational by the end of next year, has been delayed in Gujarat due to land-related issues. Work for two ‘packages’ of 62 km in Gujarat was bid out only in November 2023. Construction on one package began in April this year. The other stretch commenced this month.
Initially set to be completed by January 2023, the project has faced several extensions. The latest target of March 2024 has also been breached. Officials state that it takes at least one and a half years to build any stretch. The corridor was divided into small ‘packages’ for faster execution. All remaining land availability issues are reportedly being addressed.
So far, approximately 630 km of the total 1,386 km has been opened for traffic in different stretches. The Sohna-Dausa-Sawai Madhopur is 293 km and the Jhalawar-MP/Gujarat border is 245 km. Officials are confident that the first section of the country’s longest expressway, from Sohna to Vadodara (845 km), will be fully opened by March 2025. Subsequently, other sections, including links to JNPT in Mumbai, Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh and the DND Flyway in Delhi, will be opened.
A former NHAI official emphasized that the non-availability of land is the biggest hurdle in executing road projects. State governments must take proactive steps to ensure land acquisition is completed and the required patches are handed over particularly, for the greenfield or new alignment highways and expressways.
Last year, the road transport and highways ministry stated in a Rajya Sabha reply that the NHAI had awarded construction work for a 35-km stretch in Valsad district costing Rs 3,633 crore and a 27-km stretch in Navsari district for Rs 2,287 crore. Construction had not started in both cases at that time.
While almost all stretches in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are nearly complete, progress in Gujarat has been slow. However, with work now underway in all packages, officials are optimistic that the entire expressway will be operational by October next year.
