New Delhi: The Central Government has decided to build a new Greenfield Express Highway connecting Surat to Kurnool, a project expected to shorten the distance between Delhi and Chennai by about 320 kilometres, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Responding to supplementary questions during the Question Hour, Gadkari said that once the express highway is completed, travel time between Delhi and Mumbai will also come down significantly, and the journey is expected to be completed within 12 hours.

The minister was replying to queries related to road infrastructure development in Kolhapur, which is currently facing heavy traffic congestion. He said the government has taken what he described as a historic decision to construct the Mumbai–Delhi Expressway, which is already around 70–80 per cent complete.

Gadkari further stated that, “After Surat, we are making a new Green Express Highway, starting from Surat to Nasik to Ahmednagar to Sholapur to Kurnool, and from there it will connect to Chennai, Kanyakumari, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Cochin. It is a new connectivity from North India to South India.”

He said the new highway will reduce the Delhi–Chennai distance by 320 km, lowering transportation costs and travel time. He added that the improved road network will also help reduce congestion on existing routes, as a large volume of traffic moving from North India towards South India currently passes through Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur and Solapur. DeshGujarat