Wildlife overpass damaged, Mumbai-Nagpur expressway inauguration called off
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is building 701-km of expressway between Mumbai and Nagpur, termed as the fastest expressway of the country, at a cost of Rs 55,000 crore.
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However, MSRDC officials said that a wildlife overpass, located 15 km from Nagpur, that it was constructing for facilitating the movement of wildlife was found to be damaged.
THE STATE government has decided to call off the inauguration of the ambitious Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway, which was expected to be thrown open on May 2. The opening of the project was called off after a segment of a wildlife overpass on the stretch got damaged.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is building 701-km of expressway between Mumbai and Nagpur, termed as the fastest expressway of the country, at a cost of Rs 55,000 crore.
Under Phase 1 of the project, a 201-km stretch between Nagpur and Shelu Bazar in Washim, was set to be thrown open to the public on May 2.
However, MSRDC officials said that a wildlife overpass, located 15 km from Nagpur, that it was constructing for facilitating the movement of wildlife was found to be damaged.
“The wildlife overpass is being constructed using the elevated arch structure, however, some of the arch strips got damaged accidentally. We have now decided to build a completely new structure due to which the opening has now been delayed,” a senior MSRDC official said.
The officials said that it will take 45 days for the new structure to get completed.
“The highway cannot be opened to traffic until the wildlife elevator is completed. Therefore, the inauguration of the first phase of Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Highway between Nagpur and Shelu Bazar has been postponed,” the MSRDC said in a statement.
Started in January 2019, the entire project was expected to be completed by September 2022. However, it was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other reasons. The MSRDC has now planned to open the entire expressway by June 2023 in a phase wise manner.
Meanwhile, even as the MSRDC was almost set to open the first phase, it was yet to appoint a contractor for toll collection on the stretch. The tender for selecting the contractor was issued thrice and the last tender was opened recently in which three contractors had shown interest.
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