Maharasthra govt clears three road projects between Mumbai and other cities

Your travel time between Mumbai and Pune is set to reduce by around 25 minutes in the next three years, as the state government has given a final approval to build the 13.3-km link between Khalapur and Kusgaon on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

The proposal was cleared by the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure in a meeting on Wednesday. The committee has also given final approval to the Versova-Bandra Sea Link (VBSL) and a third bridge over the Thane creek.“With cabinet sub-committee approval in place, we can now award the contract to the lowest bidders,” said Radheshyam Mopalwar, managing director, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

The Mumbai-Pune expressway link will start at Khopoli and through an interchange, lead to Kusgaon at the Pune-end of the expressway. Once built, motorists heading to Pune can avoid the ghat section, which is the most critical part where heavy vehicles slow down traffic. The work on the project is expected to start after monsoon, said an MSRDC official. MSRDC selected Afcons Infrastructure and Hyderabad-based Navyuga Engineering as the lowest bidders for the project.

Meanwhile, the lowest bid for VBSL was received from a joint-venture of Reliance and Astaldi, which has quoted ₹6,993 crore for the project – ₹1,477 crore higher than MSRDC’s estimated cost of ₹5,516 crore. VBSL is part of the ambitious coastal road project.

An MSRDC official said the third bridge on Thane creek will come up alongside existing Vashi bridge. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) emerged as the lowest bidder to construct the bridge.