Traveling from Mumbai to Goa is going to be easier now as the Mumbai-Goa highway will be completed by the end of this year. This highway is being considered as the highway for the development of the Konkan region of Maharashtra. This highway will connect 66 tourist places of Konkan. It will also be easier to transport fruits and other products to the market.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said during the Bhoomi Poojan ceremony held in Panvel to pave the Palaspe-Indupur National Highway and other routes that the long-delayed Mumbai-Goa highway will be completed by December this year. Due to which the development in the Konkan region of the state will get a big boost. He said that due to issues like contractor problems, land acquisition, clearances, many works were stuck in the Konkan region of the state.
During this, Gadkari also announced the construction of Morbe-Karanjade road at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore. This road will pass through Jawaharlal Nehru Port and will reduce the distance between Mumbai and Delhi to 12 hours. Apart from this, work on Rs 1,200 crore Kalamboli Junction and Rs 1,200 crore Pagode Junction will also start soon.
Gadkari said the Mumbai-Goa highway connects 66 tourist destinations in Konkan in Maharashtra. This will give a big boost to development. It will also ensure faster transportation of fruits and other products from the area famous for fruits. Along with the happiness of the development works, people also expressed their displeasure over the increasing toll. Significantly, along with increasing the toll tax on the new Mumbai-Pune expressway, the Maharashtra State Road Development Board has also decided to increase the toll on the old Mumbai-Pune highway.
A proposal has been passed to increase the toll tax here by 18 percent from April 1. MSRDC officials pointed out that the toll increases by six per cent annually, totaling 18 per cent after every three years, according to a government notification dated 9 August 2004.
Officials said that the toll will remain the same till 2030 as there will be no change in it after three years in 2026. The six-lane Mumbai-Pune Expressway, about 95 kilometers long, was completely opened for vehicles in 2002. About 1.5 lakh people use the expressway daily.
