26, 2008. The state government plans to widen 900 km of highways.  
The Maharashtra government, which of late had neglected infrastructure projects in the hinterlands of the state and instead focused on big-ticket projects in Mumbai, has now undertaken a programme to upgrade national and state highways. The state government plans to widen 900 km of highways at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore.  
  
Work on upgrading the 300-km-long Pune-Aurangabad-Jalna state highway from two-lane to a four-laned access-controlled highway has already begun and the government hopes to complete it by May next year.  
  
Post upgradation, the highway would enable travellers to reach Aurangabad from Mumbai in under seven hours, as against around 10 hours currently, said DB Deshpande, secretary to the public works department (PWD).  
  
This will also help attract many more investors to Aurangabad, a fast-growing industrial and educational hub in the Marathwada region, besides reducing the burden on the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik triangle. Jalna, which is a major trading centre in the Marathwada region, will also benefit from this highway expansion.  
  
Besides, those visiting the shrine of Sai Baba at Shirdi would benefit as this highway passes through Ahmednagar. The state government has also undertaken the work of converting the 110-km Ahmednagar-Kopergaon-Shirdi road into four-lane, Deshpande added.  
  
Three national highways would also be converted into a six-lane from the present four-lane with the help of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), at a cost of around Rs 2,000 crore  
  
These include the 275-kilometre stretch between Pune and Bangalore on the Mumbai-Bangalore route, 86-km stretch of the national highway between Igatpuri and Pimplegaon in Nashik, including the 5.5 kilometre elevated road in the Nashik city which would improve the traffic situation considerably on the Pune-Surat highway, and the 90-km stretch of the country’s busiest highway — the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway between Dahisar on the outskirts of Mumbai and Talasari.  
  
“We expect all these projects to complete by early 2010,” Deshpande said.  
  
Though these projects are on a BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) basis and one would have to pay toll, World Bank studies show an investment of Rs 20 lakh in the highway sector creates one perpetual job.  
  
“The expansion of highways helps create jobs as roadside dhabas, garages, petrol pump and people offering various services open their shops,” he said.