The new route being planned for the Mumbai-Delhi Expressway is expected to save Rs 16,000 crore in the form of land acquisition costs, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said on Friday (14 September), IANS reported.
Besides saving costs, the 12-lane expressway is also expected to reduce the total distance by 120 km and connect remote parts of the country, which would provide a boost to their economies. The earlier route design also included Surat and Vadodara as part of the expressway.
“We are planning a new alignment for Delhi-Mumbai express highway from Gurgaon to Jaipur ring road to Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) to Ratlam (MP) to Vadodara. It is from backward areas of Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. That is the reason our land acquisition cost is reduced from Rs 7 crore to Rs 80 lakh per hectare. We saved Rs 16,000 crore in land acquisition in this project,” said Gadkari.
The Union Minister was speaking at a meet called, “Public Affairs: The New Paradigm” via video conference.
Amidst concerns over growing migration from rural to urban areas Gadkari said that his government has given the highest priority to rural development which includes providing quality education, employment opportunities and clean drinking water.