FPJ Dialogue: Principal Advisor To CM Reveals State's Infrastructure Roadmap & Expressway Plans

In an exclusive freewheeling conversation with the Free Press Journal on Friday, Maharashtra’s Principal Advisor (Infrastructure) to Chief Minister, Radheshyam Mopalwar, showed the infrastructure roadmap of the state and the plans for a network of expressways.

Mopalwar is credited to have paved the 701km Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg or Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway in a record time. The land acquisition for the corridor that connects 10 districts commenced in July 2017 and the foundation stone was laid in December 2018. Four years later, the 520km stretch from Nagpur was thrown open. An additional 80km between Shirdi and Bharvir near Nashik also became operational and the remaining is scheduled for completion in the next few months.

Mopalwar also elaborated on the next most crucial point that impacts almost every resident and motorist of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) – the payment of toll while entering and exiting Greater Mumbai limits.

Mumbai entry point toll

Since November 10, 2010, every motorist has to cough up an ever higher toll as the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had securitised 27 flyovers and certain allied structures on the Sion-Panvel Highway, the Western Express Highway, Eastern Expressway Highway and LBS Road.

The concession period is for 16 years. In dialogue with the journalists of the FPJ, Mopalwar announced, “My concession period is until November 19, 2026. After that it is over. We will not ask for it. Why is there a need to continue? We should stop. Every toll comes to an end at some point. The Bhiwandi bypass toll started in 1992 and stopped on March 13, 2017.”

He justified discontinuing the levy by referring to Section 20 of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Act, which calls for charging the toll only to recover the capital cost.

However, those travelling to Navi Mumbai and beyond will have to continue paying it even beyond 2026, owing to the recovery of Thane creek bridge’s cost. This levy at Vashi will continue till 2036. It is only the toll posts at Dahisar, LBS Road, Eastern Expressway Highway and Airoli creek bridge that will go away. Moreover, toll will have to be paid on the Sewri-Chirle Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, which is scheduled to be ready by November this year.

Mumbai-Pune missing link

The construction of the much awaited Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link has been underway since mid-2019. A combination of bridges and tunnels, the project will cut down overall travel time by around 25 minutes.

The 19km Khopoli exit-Sinhgad Institute stretch will be reduced to 13.3km and will help segregate traffic headed to the popular weekend destination of Lonavala, Khandala and Pawna Lake. “The tunnel and a viaduct are ready. The second viaduct will take another seven to eight months. Our target is to open it by March 2024, prior to the elections,” said Mopalwar.

For the planners and engineers, the most challenging part was constructing the second viaduct, which is 100mt high and has an additional 85mt high pylon, and the unusual wind pattern. “Here, wind travels in a different manner. If a vehicle travels at 80-100kmph and if the wind velocity is high, some light vehicles might fly off. We had to do a super elevation to protect vehicles. The model, which took 30 months, was done in Kerala, vetted in Los Angeles and verified in Delhi,” explained Mopalwar.

Expressway plans

Through the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the state has embarked on an ambitious project to create a grid of expressways adding up to more than 5,300km. It comprises 16 different projects, including the Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nagpur Expressways.

“Each district of Maharashtra will be connected by an Expressway. By the year 2033, you will find a scenario that anywhere in Maharashtra if you want to travel it will not take more than six to seven hours,” said Mopalwar.