Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said new alignment for the greenfield Delhi-Mumbai express highway is likely to reduce land acquisition cost by up to Rs 20,000 crore as the highway will travel through backward and undeveloped areas. Gadkari said the proposed project will also cut travel distance between the two metros by 125 km.
The Government has planned to build a new express highway connecting Delhi and Mumbai on a new alignment at a cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. The minister said the new express highway will result in reduction of the logistics cost and will develop the socially backward areas in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
The Government has plans to build Chambal expressway that would be connected to the Delhi-Mumbai expressway and will benefit states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“land acquisition for the new Delhi-Mumbai express highway will cost Rs 16,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore less.
The new alignment will be from Ring Road of Delhi to Jaipur to Alwar from where it will reach Sawai Madhopur to Mumbai via Vadodara,” the Road Transport & Highways minister said.
The minister said as compared to land acquisition cost of Rs 7 crore per hectare for the existing highway between Delhi and Mumbai, the new alignment will see land acquisition cost to reduce to Rs 70 to 80 lakh per hectare.