Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday announced that a greenfield highway connecting Pune with Bangalore would be built at the cost of Rs 40,000 crore.
The new national highway will be developed parallel to the existing Pune – Bangalore highway.
After laying the foundation stone for road development works in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts, the minister said that the work on the new highway would begin in the next six months.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone of a highway project in Karad, Gadkari asked elected representatives and officials from Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli to sit together with NHAI officials and solve the flooding issue national highways due to heavy rains.
In July, floods around the Kolhapur district led to an unprecedented closure of the crucial Mumbai-Bengaluru highway for almost four days.
The highway was inundated after the Panchaganga river swelled, following heavy rain in the area.
According to locals, this is the first time the highway has been shut for three days in a row.
At least 2,000 trucks and 1,000 private vehicles were stranded on both sides of the road: from Satara to Kolhapur and from Belgavi to Kolhapur.