Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Likely To Be Operational By Late 2026

The completion of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is expected to take more than a year, according to a new report by the Times of India (TOI). The project has been delayed due to problems related to land acquisition in Gujarat, sources have told TOI. 

The expressway corridors are divided into smaller packages for faster execution. The stretch in Gujarat was divided into two packages, and while construction of one package is expected to start this year, it has already begun for the other. The government had initially set January 2023 as the deadline for the completion of the entire project. After several delays, the most recent deadline of March 2024 has also been breached. 

Currently, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is open for the public between Sohna and Sawai Madhopur, Jhalawar to Madhya Pradesh/ Gujarat Border, and Surat to Virar. Officials claim they are confident that the stretch between Sohna and Vadodara will be operational by March 2025. Additionally, they also claim that three links on the expressway – JNPT in Mumbai, Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh, and DND Flyway in Delhi – will also be open soon. 

A former National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official told TOI, “Non-availability of land is the biggest hurdle in the execution of road projects. The state governments concerned need to take proactive steps to ensure land acquisition is completed and required patches are handed over. It’s far more important when we are building greenfield or new alignment highways or expressways.” 

TOI reports that while the majority of the work in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has been completed, progress has been extremely slow in Gujarat. The official states they are confident that since the work on all packages has now begun, the construction of the expressway should be completed soon and it should be operational by October next year. 

In 2023, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had told the Rajya Sabha that the NHAI had awarded the construction work of the 35 km stretch in Valsad and the 27 km stretch in Navsari, Gujarat. The former is expected to cost more than ₹3,600 crore while the latter could cost more than ₹2,287 crore.

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway passes through Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. It spans approximately 1,450 km and is expected to reduce the travel time between the two metropolitan cities to 15 - 16 hours, down from the current 24 hours.