Mr Nitin Gadkari , Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) as part of his Two day trip to review the progress of the ongoing Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME) on second day of his trip today visited the India’s first Eight lane extra dosed cable stayed bridge across the River Narmada in Bharuch in Gujarat state.
The Union minister during his Two day visit to review the progress of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME) on September 16-17 covering Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat lauded the role of construction company Ashokabuildcon ltd which has completed the country’s first Eight lane extra dosed cable bridge in record time of 33 months .
The Union Minister also lauded and visited part of the expressway where a world record was created for fastest construction of 2.5 KM of concrete road in 24 hours by Gujarat based company Patel Engineering .
The Minister also announced slew of road construction projects for the state worth more than Rs One Lakh crore .
“Despite Covid restrictions and other natural hurdles including floods the company has completed the iconic project in record time, this may be considered extraordinary feat in the national infrastructure building especially during the pandemic” said Mr Gadkari on the second day of his Two day visit of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway today .
“The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is being developed at a cost of ₹98,000 crore, the 1,380-km-long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway targeted to be completed by March 2023 will be the longest expressway in the country. The new expressway is expected to halve the commute time between Delhi and Mumbai from nearly 24 hours to 12 hours and shorten the distance by 130 km.” said Mr Gadkari.
“The 423 km stretch of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway coming up at cost of Rs 35,100 Crore in Gujarat touching cities of Valsad, Dahod, Panchmahal , Vadodara, Bharuch and Surat will help in bringing economic prosperity and generating employment in the state .It will have 310 underpasses, 69 big bridges, 187 small bridges, Eight Rail Over Bridge and 17 interchangers. The Vododara-Ankleshwar section which connects Vadodara , the economic hub of Bharuch is likely to be open for traffic by March 2022 .” the Minister said.
“The Eight lane extra dosed cable-stayed bridge across the River Narmada has been envisaged as part of the Prestigious Bharatmala Pariyojana. AshokaBuildcon Limited is constructing the Package 4 of Vadodara-Kim Expressway which stretches from Manubar to Ankleshwar in Gujarat. The highlight of this package is India’s first 8 lane with 2.22 km in length each carriageway side extra dosed cable-stayed bridge across the River Narmada.” Said Mr Satish Parakh, Managing Director of Ashokabuildcon Limited .
“The iconic bridge being near India’s western coast, has been designed to fulfil all navigational requirements for seafaring traffic and withstand marine exposure. The bridge is a massive structure with a total length of 4,440m with deck width of 24m and carriageway width of 20.25m. Out of the Project Cost of Rs 1350 Crores, the Bridge is being constructed with an expected expenditure of Rs.817.00 Crore “ said Mr Parakh.
“In the year 2019, heavy rains caused river Narmada to create a heavy flood situation in the downstream regions. The work zone suffered heavy losses as one of the two temporary bridges got severely damaged. This was followed by the global pandemic which resulted in mass migration of the labor force. Then again in 2020, monsoons brought about another round of heavy flood situations. We are proud to share that despite all the challenges Team Ashoka has completed the project in a record time of 33 months.” Said Mr Parakh.
The new Delhi-Mumbai expressway is expected to halve the commute time between Delhi and Mumbai from nearly 24 hours to 12 hours and shorten the distance by 130 km.This will generate annual fuel savings of more than 320 million liters and reduce CO2 emissions by 850 million kg which is equivalent to the planting of 40 million trees, It said the expressway is the first in Asia and only the second in the world to feature animal overpasses to facilitate unrestricted movement of wildlife.
