At estimated cost of Rs 19k crore, largest NH project under PPP gets nod

NEW DELHI: Cabinet Wednesday approved the construction of the 374-km greenfield access-controlled Nashik-Solapur-Akkalkot highway in Maharashtra, which is part of the Surat-Chennai high-speed corridor, at an estimated cost of Rs 19,142 crore.

This will be the largest value of highway project on Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) mode in the country's NH development history, I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

The cabinet also approved widening and strengthening of the 206-km Mohana to Koraput stretch of NH-326 in Odisha with an estimated cost of Rs 1,526 crore, which will improve connectivity to major economic and logistics corridors, and better last-mile access to Gopalpur port and Jeypore airport.

PM Narendra Modi termed the decision of greenfield highway in Maharashtra as "building next-generation infrastructure development". On X, he said, "This transformative project, aligned with PM Gati Shakti, will significantly reduce travel time, strengthen west-east connectivity, boost logistics cost, and create large-scale employment." An official said this will emerge as an alternative to the existing Mumbai-Chennai corridor.

Vaishnaw said the corridor will reduce travel time between Nashik and Solapur due to reduction in distance and allowing vehicles to drive at higher speed. The project will be completed in two years from the date of start of work. "Because of this corridor, travel time between Surat and Chennai will be reduced by 45% from 31 hours at present to 17 hours. This will facilitate heavy traffic between Surat, Vadodara and Mumbai towards Kurnool, Bengaluru and Chennai."

It will be developed in two packages of 152 km (Nashik to Ahilyanagar) and 222 km (Ahilyanagar to Akkalkot).