The Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC) is set to build a new six-lane expressway connecting Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar to Pune through Ahmednagar. This expressway will be connected to the Samruddhi Expressway near Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed confidence that it would be possible to travel from Nagpur to Pune in six hours once the expressway was complete.
An MoU was signed between the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) and the Maharashtra Public Works Ministry on Friday. MSIDC will construct a new highway and upgrade the existing Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar highway under this agreement. Present at the signing were MORTH Minister Nitin Gadkari, Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis, State PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan, MSIDC Managing Director Dr. Brijesh Dixit, and other officials.
Gadkari in his brief address told MSIDC to first develop the existing highway between Pune and Chhatra- pati Sambhajinagar. “You will earn 100 crore more from toll every month.
The minister stated that within three years, your earnings will be substantial enough to cover half the expenses of the new expressway. To boost traffic on the greenfield road, he suggested establishing connections to the existing expressway.
The MoRTH minister said that after he had constructed Mumbai-Pune Expressway, his party lost the assembly election in 1999. “NCP president Sharad Pawar called me some months after the election and told me that the expressway was incurring losses and sought my help. I told him to link it with the old highway. This worked and now the expressway is in profit and has earned an in- come of Rs. 10,000 crore,” he added.
The MoRTH minister said that following the construction of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, his party lost the assembly election in 1999. “NCP president Sharad Pawar called me some months after the election and told me that the expressway was incurring losses and sought my help. I told him to link it with the old highway. This worked and now the expressway is in profit and has earned an in- come of Rs. 10,000 crore,” he added.
Fadnavis said that during festivals, train tickets from Pune to Nagpur are unavailable, and private bus operators charge exorbitant fares.
“Once the Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar expressway is ready, people will travel to Nagpur from Pune in their own cars as they will reach here in six hours,” he added.