When will National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) complete 84km of Mumbai-Goa highway? Fourteen years of construction, a hike in spending to over Rs 15,000 crore, an incomplete road, potholes, accidents, and politics. This, in a nutshell, is the saga of the long-pending Mumbai-Goa highway expansion project. This pathetic situation has left no answer to the question, when will NHAI complete 84km Mumbai-Goa highway?
Several factors have marred the crucial project to expand what is known as National Highway 66 (NH-66) from delays in getting forest clearances and lengthy land acquisition processes to shoddy work by contractors. Every year, the condition of the highway and the delays in its expansion come into the news discourse just before the ten-day Ganpati festival, during which a large number of Konkan natives living in Mumbai have to use the road to travel to their villages in the Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. Once the festivities end, the highway is again easily forgotten while the meter on the project keeps running.
Ever since it was announced in 2011, National Highway 66 connecting Mumbai and Goa has been held out as a dream thoroughfare that will enable travellers to commute between the two places in six hours flat. However, the situation on the ground paints a starkly different picture. For those who regularly travel on this highway, the reality is murky as barring some portion the entire stretch is riddled with potholes.
Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways, has apologised for the delay in the work on the Mumbai-Goa highway and assured that it will be completed at the earliest. At the same time the political leadership in Konkan is busy in taking on each other and passing the tantrums underscoring the infighting in the ruling alliance. Sharp comments by Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam sparked the flutter. Even the Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was forced to intervene to subside the matter. Kadam dubbed Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan a ‘useless minister’ over the poor state of the much-delayed Mumbai-Goa Highway. “After 14 years, even Ram’s ‘vanvas (exile)’ ended, but problems on the Mumbai-Goa highway still persist. PWD Minister Chavan seems completely useless”. Dy CM Fadnavis should ask for Chavan’s resignation,” demanded Kadam. A peeved Fadnavis responded, “We are only human and such remarks are painful. I am going to talk to CM Eknath Shinde about this.
Gadkari who has apologised has made it clear that the project initially started in 2009 under the Congress Party and was later handed over to the BJP. Despite the handover, the project remains incomplete, causing frustration among the public. Gadkari acknowledged the delays and highlighted that the government is working on a comprehensive strategy to complete the project. He assured that efforts are being made to overcome the challenges and expedite the work.
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