Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari on Friday laid the foundation stones for two high-speed highway corridors — Rs 90,000 crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Rs 9,000 crore Dwarka Expressway in New Delhi.
The ministers also dedicated the Rs 1,217 crore Jaipur Ring Road to the nation.
The Dwarka Expressway, once completed, will open newer avenues for industrial development in the entire region, Finance Minister Jaitley said at the event.
These expressways will improve overall development, he added.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said his ministries had undertaken works worth about Rs 15 lakh crore in the last five years.
The greenfield Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be India’s longest expressway at 1,320 km and would reduce the travel time between the metropolises to 13 hours from the present 24 hours, he said.
Gadkari said the expressway will be completed in three years and has the potential to generate 50 lakh man-days of employment during construction.
The expressway will pass through underdeveloped areas and about 15,000 hectares of land is being acquired for it at an estimated cost of Rs 25,000 crore, he added.
“Delhi-Mumbai will be India’s most environment friendly expressway with a tree cover of 20 lakh trees and rainwater harvesting system at every 500 metres,” Gadkari said.
