The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government will come out with a series of mega initiatives for the nature-rich and picturesque coastal Kokan region of Maharashtra including the creation of a high-tech Expressway on the lines of Samruddhi Mahamarg and the setting up of the super refinery project.
Addressing the Swarajbhoomi Kokan Mahotsav 2022 at the Mumbai Exhibition Centre on Tuesday at Goregaon, Shinde and Fadnavis assured the mega plans for the region.
The coastal Konkan region comprises the two districts of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, the neighboring districts of Palghar, Thane, Raigad, and the twin districts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.
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Shinde said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Corridor on 11 December.
“We are planning on these lines and working on a Mumbai-Sindhudurg Samruddhi Corridor,” Shinde said, adding that the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has already started preparatory work for the project. “A Greenfield access-controlled highway is necessary for Konkan,” he said, adding that the work on the Mumbai-Goa Highway is progressing in full swing.
He said that the Chipi-Parule airport – located off the Mumbai-Goa Highway - is already functional. “We have to develop infrastructure to boost development and attract tourists,” he said.
Shinde said that the super refinery project in Konkan is going to transform the region.
Elaborating on it, Fadnavis said that when the erstwhile BJP-Shiv Sena government was in power between 2014-19 a lot of initiatives were taken. “However, everything was reversed in the last two-and-a-half years,” he said in a reference to the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
“Let us assure you…the refinery project is going to be a green refinery project,” he said, adding that there would be no emissions or discharge.
“The existing tourism has to be taken to a next level,” he said, adding that the locals and the agri, koli and adivasi community would be taken along in the roadmap to development.