Infrastructure development has got significant push in last four years of Modi government. Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is a major part of ambitious Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor and for this the process of land acquisition for 12 lane highway in Haryana has been completed. The 1250-km long 12 lane greenfield highway aims to join two major cities of which one is the political capital (Delhi) and the second being financial capital(Mumbai). The highway passes through states of Maharashtra (370km), Rajasthan (380 km), Madhya Pradesh (300km), Gujarat (120Km), Haryana (80km) and will reduce the travel time between the cities to 12 hours from the current 24 hours. The highway will reduce the distance between two cities form 1,450 km to 1,250 km. The speed limit at the highway will change to 120 kmph with the average speed on the expressway being 100 kmph.
“The bidding process is currently going on for the entire project. The bids will be received on December 5, then the work will be awarded and thereafter it can start. We hope to complete the project in two years’ time,” a senior official of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) said. “The highway will cross Gurugram at Sohna. “In the Haryana portion, 80km of this expressway will come, and land acquisition has been done for the same. The high-speed corridor will cross the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway near Sohna and the border of Haryana and Rajasthan and a cloverleaf will be built at the KMP express,” he added.
Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will provide seamless connectivity on Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor which is a mega Indo-Japanese infrastructure project worth USD 90 billion. The project will see phenomenal expansion of industrial capacity and infrastructure. Road, rail, port, air connectivity will get a boost in states that fall under the corridor. Many smart cities would be developed alongside the corridor besides making the existing ones smarter, such as the Dholera SIR (Special Investment Region) in Gujarat, which aims to be 6 times the size of Shanghai and 2 times the size of Delhi.
Another infrastructure projects developed along the region is Western Dedicated Freight Corridor which is being touted as DMIC’s backbone by experts. WDFC is longest in India; it runs from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Japan International Cooperation Agency is providing a loan of Rs 387.22 billion for the Western India project. The railway is planning to commission WDFC and EDFC by April 2020. The trial run on WDFC achieved a speed of 100 km per hour. The railway is also exploring the possibility of running a high speed rail (bullet train) between Delhi and Mumbai to provide land connectivity between both cities in shortest possible time.
The major industries of the country are located in these cities, so connecting them for passenger and freight transport will give economic boost to the country. Good infrastructure is the basic necessity for the economic growth of any country but India lagged behind on this front for decades. A country, historically known for trade in almost every corner of the world, lost its edge because the previous governments did not focus on connectivity within and outside the country. Now as the government has started realizing the importance of trade and connectivity, the country is expected to reclaim its economic glory in future.
