PANAJI
The much touted six-hour drives between Goa and Mumbai are still a year or more away as the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Maharashtra government's Public Works Department (PWD) have once again revised the completion deadlines for late 2026 or latest by the first quarter of 2027.
Initially set for completion and commissioning in late 2023, the NH-66 project which was said will make the Goa-Mumbai road trip a six-hour affair has faced multiple delays mostly owing to land acquisition issues and pre-construction environmental clearances in Maharashtra particularly in the 466-kilometre section between Panvel and Sindhudurg.
Currently, travel time between Mumbai and Goa is between 12-13 hours.
The NH-66 which is also referred to as the 'Konkan Expressway' was first set a completion date of December 2023. But the project faced multiple delays due to problems in land acquisition on the Panvel–Indapur section which is being executed by the NHAI.
NHAI officials have now said that these issues have been resolved, including the difficulty in securing environmental clearances after the proposal to construct a flyover in the Karnala sanctuary was dropped.
Ten sections make up the whole project -- two in Sindhudurg district which are almost complete at 99 per cent, five are in Ratnagiri district two of which are 92 per cent and 98 per cent complete while two more are already completed, and three in Raigad district of which two are nearly completed and the third is at 50 per cent completing stage, according to the NHAI officials.
Earlier in April this year, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had told the Lok Sabha that the NH-66 work which was delayed due to land acquisition and other pre-construction activities will be completed by September 2025.
That deadline has however got overrun and the project in all likelihood will now be completed by 2026-end or early 2027.
The project also has a one-kilometer stretch which is four-lane steel slag road on the Indapur-Panvel section.
"Around 80,000 tons of CONARC Steel slag were converted as processed steel slag aggregates at JSW Steel's Dolvi, Raigad plant and used in place of natural aggregates in all layers of the road. On this section, the processed steel slag aggregates and slag cement have been utilized for construction of the cement concrete road in all layers," a PIB press release said, adding that it has already been commissioned.
