Upping the ante, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the first phase of the Mumbai- Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway from Nagpur to Shirdi will be thrown open to public on May 1, 2021. Notably, the chief minister made the announcement after reviewing the work at Shivni-Rasulapur in Nandgaon-Khandeshwar taluka of Amravati district.

"The Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Expressway will be the best in the country and in the next six months, the road up to Shirdi will be open to traffic," Thackeray officially announced. The stretch of the Expressway at Amravati is 74-km long and Thackeray travelled 6 km on the stretch to check the quality and speed.

Work on the project continued even during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which is why most of it is complete, the chief minister said. "Maharashtra will be proud of the expressway. The first phase from Nagpur to Shirdi will be thrown open to public on May 1, 2021 and the entire project up to Mumbai will be completed in a year's time," he said.

The eight-lane, 701-km long expressway, being built at the cost of Rs 55,000 crore, will pass through 10 districts and is expected to cut travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur to eight hours from the current 18 hours.

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