Samruddhi Mahamarg
#GS-03 Infrastructure
For Prelims:
Samruddhi Mahamarg:
- Officially named the “Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Highway”, the expressway is to connect Nagpur to Mumbai.
- This six-lane access-controlled road, designed for a top speed of 150 kmph, is the second expressway in the State after the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
- The project is being led by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), and is designed under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model.
It passes through three wildlife sanctuaries viz;
- the Katepurna wildlife sanctuary in Akola;
- the Karanja-Sohol Black Buck sanctuary in Washim; and
- the Tansa wildlife sanctuary in Thane.
Krushisamruddhi Nagar:
- Krushi Samruddhi Kendra (New Townships) is envisioned to develop along the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg.
- In all 18 new townships will be developed along the Samruddhi Expressway, which will create a network of industrial centers along the highway to enable the economic development of these areas.
For Mains
The Need of the Expressway:
- The Expressway will reduce the time taken to 839-km distance between Nagpur and Mumbai, to seven hours which currently takes at least 17 hours.
- The Expressway, also called Samruddhi corridor, built at a project outlay of ₹55,335 crore, runs past 392 villages across 10 districts.
- The Expressway will have direct links to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai.
- This will facilitate rapid transportation of goods, agricultural products and other resources from Maharashtra to various markets across the country and abroad as well.
- The Samruddhi corridor is expected to directly impact about 36% of the State’s population.
- It will be the country’s most extensive ‘greenfield’ route alignment with 23.65 lakh saplings and over 11 lakh trees on both sides.
