Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and
Highways, recently inspected the new Delhi-Mumbai expressway in Madhya Pradesh
where the minister decided to undertake a speed-test by driving a car at 170
kmph. The video of Nitin Gadkari racing through the highway has now gone viral
on social media platforms. Lokendra Parashar, a BJP MP, posted the video on
Twitter.

The Delhi-Mumbai expressway is one of Nitin Gadkari’s
pet projects. According to the Centre’s claims, the highway is expected to
reduce travel time between India’s national capital and the country’s financial
capital to just around 12 hours.

Earlier, the road transport minister had inspected the
highway from a helicopter. Subsequently, Gadkari decided that he should also
undertake a speed test to actually check the quality of the road. After the
drive, Nitin Gadkari said, “We had already instructed the manufacturing company
to ensure the quality remains better. Hence, the speed test was successful. A
speed of 120 kmph can be proposed for this highway.”

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“I have sanctioned Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the roads
project in MP so far. I am going to sanction Rs 1 lakh crore more for road
projects in the coming days,” Nitin Gadkari said at an event, India Today
reported.

The Delhi-Mumbai expressway passes through three
districts in Madhya Pradesh — Ratlam, Mandsaur and Jhabua — passing through 245
kilometres of the state. The construction of the expressway is expected to be
completed by 2022. Initially, the expressway will have eight lanes which will
be increased to 12 lanes later.

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The expressway will connect urban centres of the
national capital through the corridor’s Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna section along the
upcoming Noida international airport. It is being developed at a cost of Rs
98,000 crore and will run for 1,380 kilometres, thus becoming the longest
expressway in the country.

In course of Nitin Gadkari’s road inspection in Madhya
Pradesh, the minister also inspected the road where the world record for the
fastest road construction was created in a day.