Multiple industrial hubs will come up along the Mumbai-Nagpur super communication highway that is currently under construction.
The 701 km-long highway - Samruddhi Mahamarg - will be the longest expressway in India, and it is an extensive project connecting 10 districts, 26 talukas and 392 villages.
During a review of the project, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that there should be decentralisation of industries and more industrial hubs must come up along the new highway.
"During COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced that the cases are high where the population density is high. And, population density is high where industries have flourished," he said, adding that new business nodes must be encouraged near the corridor.
The Rs 46,000 crore expressway is a Greenfield project that will have access control. It will be 7 meters above the land level.
A total of 20,820 hectares of land is required for the project, of which 399 hectares is forestland.
The Mahamarg is being constructed through Engineering, Procurement and Construction model.
It will pass through 10 districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Jalna, Ahmednagar, Nashik and Thane.
The design speed of the Expressway will be 150 km per hour. It will have 3+1 lanes on either side of the median, concrete pavement.
Over 400 vehicular underpasses, over 300 pedestrian underpasses and cattle underpasses will be provided at every village/town and alignment will avoid passing through major town/city. It will have over 50 flyovers.