Maharashtra Allocates Rs 170 Billion For Key Land Acquisitions
The Maharashtra government will release Rs 170 billion to speed up land purchases for nine major Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation schemes, including expressways and multimodal corridors. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered that all priority acquisitions finish by end-2025 to curb delays and cost overruns.
Acquisition for the Pune Ring Road and the Jalna–Nanded Expressway is nearing completion, while surveys are under way for the Virar–Alibaug multimodal corridor, the Shaktipeeth (Golden Triangle) Expressway, new Vidarbha highways and the Navgaon–Morgaon and Vadhwan–Samruddhi link roads.
The state has already sanctioned Rs 360 billion for land-related work: Rs 90 billion for Pune Ring Road, Rs 21.4 billion for Jalna–Nanded and Rs 220 billion for the Virar–Alibaug route. The new Rs 170 billion injection will be released in stages as acquisition progresses.
Mr Fadnavis told officials that any holdup would inflate costs and urged departments to avoid bureaucratic snags. Financing models—Public-Private Partnership or Build-Operate-Transfer—will be finalised only after land deals close.
On the Shaktipeeth Expressway, measurements are complete in 86 of 300 villages, with the remainder due by August. The route will link Nagpur, Mumbai and Goa, boosting both pilgrimage and trade traffic.
The finance department has been directed to disburse Rs 120 billion immediately, while the forest department must accelerate environmental clearances for ecologically sensitive stretches such as the Morbe–Karanja section of the Virar–Alibaug corridor.
Additional priorities include the Vadhwan–Igatpuri Expressway, several Vidarbha expressways (Bhandara–Gadchiroli, Nagpur–Chandrapur and Nagpur–Gondiya) and mineral and rail corridors at Navegaon–Surjagad and Wardha–Nanded.