The Union Cabinet has approved the construction of a 29-km-long six-lane expressway from Pagote in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority area to Chouk at the junction of the old Mumbai-Pune highway and Karjat road, while also linking the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Goa national highway (NH-66).

The expressway, which will cost over Rs 4,500 crore, is designed to improve logistics efficiency by connecting JNPA with the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. 

Two tunnels passing through the Sahayadri mountain range will allow for safe and fast movement of commercial vehicles, including heavy trucks, compared with the current ghat roads.

The project is in line with the PM GatiShakti national master plan to provide integrated multimodal connectivity infrastructure at various economic zones. 

It will be developed using a Build, Operate, and Transfer model, in which a private company is contracted to build and operate the project for a specified period before it is transferred to the government.

With increasing container volume at JNPA and the development of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, a need was identified for augmenting national highway connectivity in the region, a government release said.