Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Completion Delayed to October 2025, Announces Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai/New Delhi, 2nd August 2024: According to Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway’s completion has been rescheduled to October 2025. Once operational, this major infrastructure project will shorten the travel time between Delhi and Mumbai to just 12 hours.

Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha that as of Wednesday, 1136 km of the expressway, which spans a total of 1386 km, has been completed. This represents approximately 82% of the overall project.

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will link several key economic regions, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. It is projected to reduce the distance from Delhi to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) by about 180 km and cut travel time to connected destinations by up to 50%.

Earlier in July, reports indicated that progress on the Gujarat segment of the expressway had been hindered due to land acquisition issues. Construction for two segments totalling 62 km in Gujarat only began in November 2023. While work on one section started in April, the other section began in July. Currently, around 630 km of the total 1,386 km is open to traffic in various stretches.

For example, the 293 km stretch between Sohna, Dausa, and Sawai Madhopur is operational, as is the 245 km stretch from Jhalawar to the MP/Gujarat border. Officials anticipate that the first segment of the expressway, stretching 845 km from Sohna to Vadodara, will be fully operational by March 2025. Subsequent sections, including connections to JNPT in Mumbai, Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh, and the DND Flyway in Delhi, will also be opened thereafter.

In his address to the Rajya Sabha, Gadkari also highlighted that the length of national highways in India has increased significantly, growing from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 146,126 km currently. Since April 2014, the government has completed 98,021 km of national highways at an expenditure of Rs 14.55 lakh crore.