Tiny 87 km Gujarat bottleneck delays Delhi–Mumbai Expressway completion

The ambitious 1,386 km Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, one of the Centre’s largest infrastructure projects, is now likely to be completed by 2027–28, nearly two years behind its original schedule, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Parliament.

Ironically, the delay hinges on just 87 km of the expressway in Gujarat. This stretch comprises three packages on the Vadodara–Virar section — package 8 (Jujuwa–Gandeva), package 9 (Karvad–Jujuwa) and package 10 (Talsari–Karvad). All three packages were awarded in 2021 to Pune-based Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd (RSIIL) and have emerged as a major hurdle for the Rs 1.04 lakh crore mega project despite their limited length.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) cancelled two of these contracts in March 2023 due to persistent delays. Fresh tenders were floated, but RSIIL again emerged as the lowest bidder and was re-awarded the contracts in November 2023. The third package has also faced execution challenges, contributing to cumulative delays on the Gujarat section.

Nitin Gadkari reviewed the delayed Gujarat stretches in November along with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

NHAI officials told Parliament that the authority follows a defined procedure before taking punitive action against contractors. In cases of delay, NHAI first issues a “cure period” notice, giving the contractor a fixed time to resolve bottlenecks.

Only if the issues remain unresolved can the authority move towards termination, debarment or blacklisting. In this instance, while two contracts were terminated, competitive bidding norms led to the same contractor winning them back.

Data shared in Parliament shows that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has constructed 3,468 km of national highways in the current financial year up to October 2025. However, delays remain widespread. Of the 1,208 national highway projects currently under construction, 649 have overshot their original completion timelines.

Among the delayed projects, 301 are behind schedule by less than a year, 263 by one to three years, and 85 by more than three years. The ministry attributed most of these delays to factors such as litigation and land acquisition issues.

The Gujarat bottleneck has now become the key reason behind the delayed completion of the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, a project seen as critical for cutting travel time and boosting economic connectivity between the national capital and India’s financial hub.

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