New e-way to reduce Delhi-mumbai travel time

NEW DELHI: It would soon be possible to travel between Delhi and Mumbai in just 11-12 hours as the two metro cities would be connected through an expressway, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.

The expressway, built at a cost of around Rs 1 lakh crore, will be completely access controlled and would significantly reduce travel time between the two cities, he said during the launch of a joint study report on “Insurance requirements of the Indian logistics and warehousing industry and their customers”. Gadkari said through a new highway alignment between Delhi and Mumbai, the government would bring down the land acquisition cost from Rs 7 crore per hectare to Rs 70-80 lakh per hectare.

The minister said while India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the logistics costs were quite high compared to other countries.

He said compared to trucks travelling an average 800 km per day in the US, in India they travelled only 200-250 km. “I assure you that next year, we will make sure that trucks are able to travel an average of 400 km per day,” he said.

Gadkari also said the government has set a target of constructing 45 km of national highways per day during FY19, up from about 27 km per day built during the last.

The total construction target for 2018-19 has been set at 16,420 km, of which 9,700 km will be constructed by the Road Transport Ministry, 6,000 km by the National Highway Authority of India and 720 km by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

In comparison, 9,829 km length of national highways were constructed during 2017-18. While Gadkari had set the target of 40 km per day, the total highway construction could account to 27 km per day during the year. He said his ministry was making all out efforts for improving and strengthening the highways network in the country.