The Maharashtra government’s proposal to widen the Pune–Mumbai Expressway into a 10-lane superhighway is currently undergoing an independent technical appraisal before it is placed before the state cabinet for approval.
Senior officials from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) confirmed that the project proposal is being reviewed by Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), which has been tasked with carrying out a third-party assessment of the plan’s technical feasibility and design framework, The Times of India reported.
The evaluation is expected to serve as the final technical review before the proposal is presented to the cabinet’s infrastructure committee, chaired by the chief minister.
“The third-party assessment will be the final technical and feasibility review before the cabinet consideration. Once the cabinet clears it, the work can begin. Its implementation will take about four years,” a senior official of MSRDC was quoted as saying.
The detailed project report for the expansion was submitted earlier this month and proposes upgrading the existing 94.6 km access-controlled corridor from eight lanes to ten lanes.
“This is an upgrade from our earlier eight-lane proposal. The 10-lane project will cost around Rs16,000 crore. The land acquisition cost pegged is at approximately Rs200 crore,” the official said.
