Page 50 - CO October 2021

inFraStrUctUre TICKEr TAPE

MP TO GET `11,311 CrOrE OF INFrA PrOJECTS DELHI TO MUMbAI IN JUST 13 HOUrS: INDIA TO MAKE
union Minister of Road Transport & Highways nitin Gadkari recently WOrLD’S LONGEST EXPrESSWAY bY MArCH 2023
inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 35 major road union Minister for Road Transport and Highways nitin Gadkari
projects totaling 1,530 km in Madhya Pradesh. recently announced that the government is constructing the
These projects will entail an investment of around `11,311 crore. world’s longest highway – the Delhi-Mumbai Express Highway.
Indore and neighbouring districts have `3,500 crore worth of The first phase from Delhi-Jaipur (Dausa)-Lalsot and Vadodara-
these projects. Ankleshwar is expected to be open to traffic by March 2022, while
The event was organised jointly by the Ministry of Road Transport the expressway itself is expected to be completed by March
and Highways (MoRTH), the national Highways Authority of India 2023. The Expressway will be 1,380 km long and will go up to
(nHAI) and Madhya Pradesh PWD. Jawaharlal nehru Port Trust (JnPT), But now, we are also planning
Among the major projects are four-lane road widening of Bhopal- to take it up to nariman Point,” said Gadkari speaking at an event.
Biaora block (Mubarakpur-Biaora), Gwalior-Jhansi block, Mohgan- The project will get over by March 2022 and India will open up
Khawasa block, Jhansi-Khajuraho block, Bamidha-Satna block the world’s largest expressway.
two-lane and construction of Shujalpur-Ashta block two-lane road Earlier, it used to take around 48 hours to cover the distance
with paved shoulder. between Mumbai and Delhi by truck and 24-26 hours by car.
The Minister inaugurated the strengthening of seven road projects, now it will take approximately 18-20 hours to cover the distance
some 452 km long and costing `579 crore. The Obaidullaganj- between Delhi and Mumbai by truck and 12-13 hours by car. The
nagpur block (nH-69) is unique among them, having been built highway is expected to cross from the tribal districts of Rajasthan,
with plastic waste as a pilot project. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Gadkari believes this will develop
He laid the foundation stones of 21 road projects, including four- the areas and create many employment opportunities for
lane road widening of Dewas-ujjain block, Balwara-Dhanganv people. The expressway will connect the urban centres of Delhi
along with construction of a bridge on narmada river, Dhangaon- through the Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna section of the corridor along
Borgaon block, Rewa-Bela block, Sagar-Mohari block, Bamidha- with a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal nehru Port to Mumbai
Khajrao along with four-lane road widening of the remaining part through a spur in Mumbai.
of nauradehi Sanctuary, Machaliya Ghat, Madhav national Park
and construction of two-lane with paved shoulder on ujjain- LINXON FINISHES CONSTrUCTION OF 400 KV AIS
Jhalawar block and Satna-Maihar block. SUbSTATION IN INDIA
The foundation stone was also laid for a two km long flyover from Linxon has finished construction of a 400 kV AIS substation at
Bhopal Square to Indira Gandhi Square and construction of Chandauti in Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar for Powergrid
104 km-long AtarGhat-SabalgarhTentra- Dhovani (Govardhan)- Mithilanchal Transmission Limited (PMTL). PMTL is a wholly owned
Mohana Road along with strengthening of total 244 km-long subsidiary of PowerGrid Corporation of India Ltd (Powergrid), a
eight road projects costing `145 crore. state-owned transmission utility of India. This substation is part of a
He signed a memorandum of understanding (Mou) with the state network comprising three additional substations and transmission
government to develop a multi-model logistics hub in Indore’s lines that are also being built by PMTL. Chandauti is the first
Betma Tehsil. In a move to develop the project, 150 acre of land segment in this network to be commissioned.
has been made available and later, a similar amount of land will The 400/220/132 kV, 3x 500 MVA Chandauti substation features
be acquired to meet future demands while the proposed multi- 14 bays of 400 kV, 12 bays of 220 kV and 8 bays of 132 kV. It is
mode logistics hub will also be connected with rail transport by constructed as a part of India’s Eastern Region Strengthening
laying a railway line from nearby station. Scheme (ERSS) to address the load demand of Bihar up to
The union Minister inspected the under-construction eight-lane 11000MW. This project touched its peak construction phase
Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway in Ratlam. in March 2020. However, work was disrupted due to Covid-19-
The project worth `8,437 crore, which will pass through Mandsaur induced lockdown. With help of Powergrid and local authority, the
(over 102km), Ratlam (90km) and Jhabua (52km) covering a total project team could recommence the work gradually maintaining
distance of nearly 245 km in Madhya Pradesh, is scheduled for the mandatory Covid-19 protocol throughout the construction
completion in november 2022. period. The substation was operational in April 2021.

50 COnSTRuCTIOn OPPORTunITIES|OCTObEr 2021