India opens first stage of Delhi-Mumbai expressway
INDIA on Sunday (12) inaugurated the first stage of its longest expressway, a route linking New Delhi and Mumbai, as it makes a concerted infrastructure push to catch up with geopolitical rival China.
The ambitious $13bn project will eventually cut the road travel time between the country’s two biggest cities in half, to 12 hours.
India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and will soon be recognized as its most populous country, but its infrastructure remains decades behind that of its northern neighbor.
A sign over one of the new fourlane carriageways proclaimed ‘Welcome to Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway’ - a route that spans a total of 1,386 km (861 miles).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the 246-kilometre first stage Sunday, linking the capital with the tourist city of Jaipur in Rajasthan.
It was a ‘sign of developing India’, he said, adding that ‘such investments in railways, highways, subway lines and airports are a key to pushing the country’s growth rate, attracting more investments and creating fresh jobs’.
Asia’s thirdlargest economy has made a renewed push to decouple itself from an increasingly assertive China’s supply chains and build up its own economic capacity since a deadly military clash on their Ladakh frontier in 2020.
A wary New Delhi has expedited many key projects, and Modi’s government this month announced an unprecedented 33 percent increase in infrastructure spending.
The Indian premier is expected to open at least a dozen major railways, highways, expressways and port projects in the next few months.
India has one of the world’s largest rail networks but it is badly outdated and needs huge investments in both track and rolling stock, with authorities seeking to tap private capital to do so.
For its part, Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure.
India’s first high-speed rail line, a $13bn Japanese-funded project linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad, remains under construction and has been hit by land acquisition and other bureaucratic bottlenecks.