New highway to connect Shendra & Bidkin nodes of DMIC

The Shendra and Bidkin nodes, which are being developed under the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) in Aurangabad, will be connected through a new highway, an official said on Wednesday.

The distance between the two nodes is approximately 40 kms.

"Two nodes are being developed as a part of DMIC here in Aurangabad. Of them, Shendra has become partially functional as some companies have started their operations. The work of connecting these two nodes has been taken on priority and a fruitful meeting was held last week in Mumbai over it," Gajanan Patil, Joint MD of Aurangabad Industrial Township Limited (AITL), told PTI.

The AITL is a special purpose vehicle formed to implement and administer the Shendra and Bidkin nodes of the DMIC.

Work will be carried out in two phases and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the AITL have agreed upon the alignment of the proposed highway last week, Patil said.

"We have approved the two alignments finalised by the NHAI's Aurangabad office team. Land needs to be acquired for both the phases of highway construction. In the first phase, a new road will be constructed, which will connect Shendra and Zalta. It will meet the new four-lane under-construction bypass," he added.

The existing Paithan road will be expanded to four lane which will make traffic easy to reach Bidkin (another node of DMIC in making)," the official told.

"In the second phase, a greenfield highway will be constructed, which will be four-lane and 34 kms in length. A final meet will be held over the proposal in Delhi," Patil said.

Another official said the detailed project report (DPR) and other formalities may take a year.