Projects worth Rs 8 lakh cr underway in Maharashtra: CM Eknath Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said that infrastructure projects worth Rs 8 lakh crore are underway that will enable the state to achieve the goal of one-trillion-dollar economy.

Speaking after launching a coffee table book on Infrastructure development in Maharashtra — Maharashtrachya Vikasvata published by Loksatta, Shinde said that the ongoing infrastructure projects would improve the standard of living in the state, making the lives of the residents more comfortable and also leading to increase in investment in the state. The CM said that during the MVA government’s tenure, the growth of the state was derailed, however, with the formation of government led by him in the alliance of BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena has speeded up the development and has cleared all the hurdles in the infrastructure projects.

“The government has cleared all the hurdles in infrastructure projects and currently development works costing more than Rs 8 lakh crore are underway. Projects such as the Atal Setu, Samrudhi Expressway and sea link will be proved to a game-changer,” he said.

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Stating that Maharashtra is the engine of development of the country, Shinde said that the state will take a share in achieving the goal of making India the third largest economy of the world with the GDP of $5 trillion.

“In the next three to four years, nearly 200 kilometres of Metro rail in MMR along with Metro-3 will be operational, reducing 25 to 30 lakh vehicles on the road,” the chief minister said, adding that a network of 7,000-km fast communication expressways will be created in the state soon.