Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the state government is planning 24 townships, agriculture and industrial hubs along the 700-kilometer Mumbai-Nagpur expressway costing ₹45,000 crore. He added that the government will not impose any projects on the people. The road will pass through 10 districts of Maharashtra.

While discussing the State economy and future projects with members of Pune International Centre via video conference, Thackeray said that the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway will give a major boost to the State’s development. The network of business and industries along the expressway will benefit all stakeholders, he said.

The expressway, scheduled to be completed in 2021, has been named Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg. The expressway will cut the travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur to less than nine hours. Motorists are expected to pay over ₹1,200 in toll for a one-way journey.

Thackeray said that the government will take local people in the State into confidence before launching infrastructure development projects. He insisted that local people must get maximum benefit from the projects and there must not be any conflict between the people and the state. He also assured that landowners will get good compensation for the land acquisition.

The CM said that despite the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, the state government has signed MoUs worth ₹16,000 crore. Thackeray said that the state government wants to decentralise industries. Currently, industries are concentrated in Mumbai, Pimpri Chinchwad and Thane areas, and the majority of these units had to be closed due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in these areas.

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