Picture for representational purpose only

GURUGRAM: The Delhi-Mumbai expressway project, which will cross Sohna in Gurugram, is on the fast track, with the bidding process currently on. Acquisition of land in Haryana , altogether 80km, is also complete, though it’s still ongoing in many other states — Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, officials said on Friday.

“The bidding process is currently going on for the entire project. The bids will be received on December 5, then the work will be awarded and thereafter it can start. We hope to complete the project in two years’ time,” a senior National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official said.

In Gurugram, the expressway will start at Alipur Road in Sohna. “In the Haryana portion, 80km of this expressway will come, and land acquisition has been done for the same. The high-speed corridor will cross the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway near Sohna and the border of Haryana and Rajasthan. And a cloverleaf will be built at the KMP expressway,” he added.

However, land acquisition for the 1,250km expressway — to be built at an estimated Rs 60,000 crore — is under process in Rajasthan (380km), Gujarat (120km), Madhya Pradesh (300km) and Maharashtra (370km), the official said.

Once complete, the eight-lane Delhi-Mumbai expressway will reduce the existing distance of 1,450 km by road to about 1,250 km and will bring down the travel time to about 12 hours since it will be a signal-free stretch. Currently, it takes at least 24 hours to cover the stretch between Delhi and Mumbai through NH-8 .

Unlike the recently inaugurated KMP expressway where the speed limit has been fixed at 80km as of now, the Delhi-Mumbai expressway will have a speed limit of 120kmph. “The average speed on this expressway is currently 100kmph,” said the official. The Union government had announced the project this April.

