Will Majiwada-Vadpe route on Mumbai-Nashik highway be completed on time?

Thane: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) unit of Thane has alleged that the work of Majiwada to Wadpe route on the Mumbai-Nashik highway, which is considered important for traffic in Thane and the surrounding cities and even Nashik has been delayed for the last three years. MNS has warned that the work of this road should be completed within the stipulated time or else they will stage a protest.

The project, with a budget of Rs 1182 crores, remains incomplete; in addition, work on the new Saket and Kasheli bridge on this route is only 6 percent complete and is the reason the people of Thane are facing traffic jams.

From Thane city, the national highway from Majiwada to Vadpe leads to the cities of Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Gujarat and Panvel. It includes heavy vehicles and other vehicles, and the number of these vehicles is large.

The eight-lane construction of the 23.5 km National Highway 3 road from Majiwada to Vadpe has been stalled for the past three years. Due to this, for the last three years, the people of Mumbai including Thane have to face traffic jams for two hours each and Thanekar is feeling the brunt of the laxity in the work of the administration.

Swapnil Mahindrakar, MNS public interest and law department city president, Thane on Monday met the officials of National Highways Authority (NHA) and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) officials and gave a statement and also demanded that the work of this road should be completed on time.

Mahindrakar said, "Millions of vehicles ply through this road every day. The project has been stalled for the past three years only because of the inefficiency of the administration. The National Highway Authority is unable to complete the work within the scheduled time by the concerned contractor.

"Eight-lane construction of Majiwada to Vadpe National Highway and work on new Saket and Kasheli bridges were started in 2019. The work of this road was first given to MEP Infrastructure on behalf of the National Highways Authority. But the work was later handed over to MSRDC in 2021 after MEP said that it will not be able to complete the job."

Speaking with the FPJ correspondent, Mukund Attarde, project manager, National Highway Authority, Thane said, "Some places on Majiwada to Vadpe route are coming under the forest department, so their permission has been taken and now there are no problems in the road work on this route and soon the work on the eight-lane road and also Kasheli and Saket bridge will start and it will be completed by the the end of December 2023."