Mumbai: The upcoming Vadhavan Deep Sea Port in Maharashtra will be directly connected to the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Highway (NH48) through a new access-controlled expressway, with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) opening technical bids for a 32.18-km greenfield corridor from the port to Tawa village on NH48.

The proposed four-lane expressway, estimated to cost Rs 2,575 crore, will be expandable to eight lanes in the future and will be developed as NH-248S. It is expected to provide seamless road connectivity between the under-construction port in Palghar district and one of the country’s busiest national highway corridors linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

According to reports, eight infrastructure firms have emerged as successful bidders at the technical stage, including Afcons Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro, Dilip Buildcon, GR Infraprojects, Gawar Construction, J Kumar Infraprojects–Shinde Developers JV, ABCI Infrastructures–Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. JV, and Dineshchandra R. Agarwal Infracon.

The highway link is being developed to support the Vadhavan Transshipment Port project, which is being built through Vadhavan Port Project Ltd., and is expected to handle large volumes of cargo once operational. DeshGujarat