The work on the Vadpe-Thane stretch of the Mumbai-Nashik Highway also known as the Bhiwandi bypass has finally begun, a report from the Indian Express stated.
The 21-km bypass is the first Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project in the state. It was sanctioned when Nitin Gadkari was the state PWD minister.
It is a four-lane highway bypassing the town of Bhiwandi and connects Mumbai to Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Nashik, Northern Maharashtra, Northern India.
Being an asphalted road, the stretch is marked with many potholes during the monsoon. As the road was too narrow the NHAI floated a tender to widen it to an eight-lane concretised one in 2019.
The work was awarded to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) after the concessionaire appointed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) failed to carry it out.
MSRDC’s joint managing director Anil Gaikwad told the Indian Express that the corporation got the work on a hybrid annuity basis and the work is expected to be completed by May 2023.
The project is estimated to cost Rs 1,182 crore.
