Maharashtra government to spend Rs 6 lakh crore on state’s infrastructure

The Maharashtra government is planning for a major overhaul of the state’s infrastructure — from airports and ports to expressways to railway networks — that is estimated to cost anywhere north of ‘5-6 lakh crore, but which could give the state a much-needed facelift. The War Room, a brainchild of Devendra Fadnavis when he first took over as chief minister in 2014, is back in action and this time there are grander plans.

Some of the new projects planned include creating an Expressway grid comprising 6-8 lanes that connects all districts of the state. State government officials said nine new Expressways were being planned, one of which is going to be the Pune-Nashik eight-lane Expressway. The estimated cost of these nine expressways could be around Rs 2.35 lakh crore.

The War Room is also planning a Mumbai to Konkan six-lane Expressway that would originate from Pen near Panvel to Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg, which will cost around ‘80,000 crore. Those involved in the planning of the Mumbai-Konkan Expressway said that instead of the long-winding routes between Mumbai and Konkan currently available, the new expressways would be straight roads cutting across all coastal districts.

The state is also planning to upgrade its tier-3 airports to tier-2 ones by upgrading their infrastructure like extending the runways. Some of the airports that would be undertaken for this upgradation would be the ones at Sangli, Amravati and Gondhia.

Keen to ensure faster execution of these projects, the Maharashtra government has appointed IAS officer Radhyesham Mopalwar as Director General (War Room-Infrastructure) in charge of the War Room. He is known for the speedy execution of projects like the Samruddhi Mahamarg (Mumbai to Nagpur Super Expressway).