Samruddhi Mahamarg – Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway

Construction of Roads have a significant role in economic growth and development and have significant social advantages. They are crucial to the growth and development of a country. A road network is essential for ensuring access to social, health, education, and employment services and for other reasons related to the battle against poverty. The inauguration of the Samruddhi Mahamarg will provide a massive boost to the economy of the Western State of Maharashtra. Via JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) in Mumbai and the international Hub Airport, the new expressway will offer great connectivity across regions and lead us to national and international markets.  

The Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Highway is popularly referred to as the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway or Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg. It is an access-controlled, six-lane wide (it will eventually be constructed into an eight-lane wide) expressway built in Maharashtra, India. The project will be one of the nation’s longest greenfield road projects, connecting the state’s two main cities, Mumbai, the capital, and Nagpur, one of the biggest cities in Maharashtra. The (EPC) Engineering, Procurement, and Construction methodology are being used to plan the project, which is overseen by the government’s infrastructure division MSRDC or Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.

In addition to passing directly through 10 important districts, the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway would also indirectly pass through 14 other districts via feeder highways, 392 villages and 24 Talukas. The top ten expressway districts are Nagpur, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim, Jalna, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nashik, and Thane pass through. Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Akola, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Dhule, Raigad Jalgaon, and Palghar are among the remaining 14 districts.

An Overview of Samruddhi Mahamarg 

Maharashtra, with the Samruddhi Mahamarg project, aims to attract domestic and foreign investment to promote socioeconomic development. The project also offers residents of the corridor and nearby regions a variety of employment options. The proposed plan entails a super-connective highway that will commute between Mumbai and Nagpur for about eight hours.

It takes approximately 14 to 15 hours to go from Mumbai to Nagpur, which is more than 800 miles away. The Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, the super connective highway, is expected to be inaugurated very soon and will shorten this distance to 700 km and the travel time significantly. This suggests that in less than eight hours, Mumbai to Nagpur travel may soon be possible!

Facts about the Super Communication Expressway Project

Some interesting facts about the Samruddhi Mahamarg have been mentioned below to pique your interest in the fantastic project. 

1. The eight-lane motorway will lessen the current 14 to 15-hour travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur.
2. The project is named Samruddhi Mahamarg, which translates into Hindi as ‘the Prosperity Corridor’.
3. The regional economy will be boosted by developing 24 nodes, or prosperity hubs, including commercial locations, truck terminals, IT businesses, knowledge cities, industrial facilities, etc.
4. The expressway will have flyovers, underpasses, and interchanges at important road crossings. Every village and town along the route will have a vehicular and pedestrian underpass, avoiding major cities entirely.
5. Commuters from the highway will benefit greatly from amenities for travel, such as telephones, food plazas, restaurants, and stores positioned every 5 km. Trauma centres, truck terminals, and bus docks will also be present.

Samruddhi Mahamarg Opening Date

At the last leg of its construction, the Samruddhi Mahamarg was touted to open on August 15. However, the ambitious highway is still under construction and will positively be inaugurated very soon. Samruddhi Mahamarg was originally scheduled to be open in May 2022. However, that date was postponed due to damage to a section of an overpass on a wildlife-rich area along the stretch.

The implementing organisation, MSRDC, stated that the development of the Mumbai – Nagpur highway was hampered by the statewide lockdown that followed the Coronavirus outbreak. As a result, instead of the original goal of December in the year 2021, the Samruddhi Mahamarg end date was pushed back to December 2022. According to media estimates, the Samruddhi Mahamarg Highway’s final section connecting Shirdi with Mumbai and the Samruddhi Mahamarg will be fully operational by the middle of 2023.

Cost of Building the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway

Samruddhi Mahamarg will cost ₹ 55,000 crores to build and will require the acquisition of about 9,900 hectares of land. The Krushi Samruddhi Nagar will be built on 10,000 hectares, while the Samruddhi Mahamarg will have facilities and amenities on 145 hectares.

Samruddhi Mahamarg: Details of the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway Project

Samruddhi Mahamarg is a new expressway built by MSRDC, otherwise known as Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, and it is intended to reach the speed of 150 km/h. Townships, a total of 24, are being built along the route map of Samruddhi Mahamarg, which will help a few of the state’s less developed regions improve their economic growth. The Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway and Samruddhi Mahamarg will traverse the Western Ghats’ rugged topography. This eight-lane Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway would also feature 2 additional roads that will serve as service lanes and six lanes. The Mumbai- Nagpur Expressway is anticipated to cost around ₹ 50,000 crores to build, with land acquisition likely to cost another ₹ 25,000 crores for the project. 

Six tunnels make up the Samruddhi Mahamarg, and the longest tunnel in Maharashtra is a part of it. The longest tunnel was constructed utilising the “New Australian Tunneling Method” and has a time frame of up to 100 years. The three-lane twin tunnel is approximately 35 meters wide and is located 7.74 kilometres to the project’s right and 7.78 kilometres to the left. While it currently takes 20- 25 minutes to traverse the Kasara Ghat, this tunnel will cut that time to just 5 minutes.

A pooling arrangement was used to acquire the land for the Samruddhi Mahamarg project, and farmers will receive 30 per cent of the remaining developed land. In addition, the farmers of the area will receive non-irrigated land, approximate ₹ 50,000 per hectare and irrigated land, an approximate ₹ 1 lakh per year as part of the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway project for the following 10 years.

The Krushi Samruddhi Nagar, New Town Development Authority (NTDA), which would be built alongside the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway and, will likewise be run by MSRDC. The Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg will soon extend to Bhandara-Gondia and Gadchiroli, located in the eastern and the south-eastern part of Nagpur, in accordance with a recent announcement by the Maharashtra state government. After the proposed plan of the Jalna-Nanded extension, the Samruddhi Mahamarg has received a second extension.

State of Samruddhi Mahamarg

According to reports pertaining to certain media channels, the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway’s construction work at Samruddhi Mahamarg is currently about 70% complete. This data is pertaining to the civil work of the construction. The Mumbai- Nagpur Expressway’s Nagpur terminus will be the starting point for the phased operationalisation of Samruddhi Mahamarg. Samruddhi Mahamarg’s first phase, which otherwise would have been ready for vehicle use this month, has completed almost 95% of the work. The Mumbai- Nagpur Expressway will begin at Shahpur district on the Mumbai side. The Mumbai- Nagpur Expressway’s physical construction will be finished soon, according to MSRDC. Work is currently being done on the expressway’s auxiliary infrastructure, including gas stations, food plazas, restrooms, and other facilities.

Tolls for Samruddhi Mahamarg

The following table will apprise you of the toll taxes that you will have to pay once the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway starts. 

Contractors for the Samruddhi Mahamarg

The table below will apprise you of the contractors involved in the process of construction of the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway.

Impact of the Samruddhi Mahamarg Project Timelines

The following table with apprise of the Timelines of Samruddhi Mahamarg Project: 

The Impact on Real Estate of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway 

Maharashtra is considered the country’s centre for warehousing, and the smooth connectivity provided by the Mumbai-Nagpur highway would further increase its potential and significance in the logistics industry.

Samruddhi-Mahamarg expressway connects both the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. Additionally, Nagpur- Multimodal International Hub Airport and (JNPT) Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai will both have access to each other via the Mumbai-Nagpur road (MIHAN). More EXIM commerce will result immediately from this.

However, as reported by numerous media sources, the rash acquisition of the irrigated land for the Mumbai-Nagpur highway has angered many farmers. Many landowners believe the government’s assertion that it will provide other lands for the restoration of the same to be implausible.

FAQ on Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway