NEW DELHI: Cabinet on Wednesday approved the construction of the 374-km greenfield access-controlled Nashik-Solapur-Akkalkot highway in Maharashtra, which is part of the Surat-Chennai high-speed corridor, at an estimated cost of Rs 19,142 crore.This will be the largest value of highway project on Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) mode in the country’s NH development history, I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.The cabinet also approved widening and strengthening of the 206-km Mohana to Koraput stretch of NH-326 in Odisha with an estimated cost of Rs 1,526 crore, which will improve connectivity to major economic and logistics corridors, and better last-mile access to Gopalpur port and Jeypore airport.PM Narendra Modi termed the decision of greenfield highway in Maharashtra as “building next-generation infrastructure development”. On X, he said, “This transformative project, aligned with PM Gati Shakti, will significantly reduce travel time, strengthen west-east connectivity, boost logistics cost, and create large-scale employment.” An official said this will emerge as an alternative to the existing Mumbai-Chennai corridor.Vaishnaw told reporters that the corridor will reduce travel time between Nashik and Solapur due to reduction in distance and allowing vehicles to drive at higher speed. The project will be completed in two years from the date of start of work. “Because of this corridor, the travel time between Surat and Chennai will be reduced by 45% from 31 hours at present to 17 hours. This will facilitate heavy traffic between Surat, Vadodara and Mumbai towards Kurnool, Bengaluru and Chennai,” he added.The project will be developed in two large packages of 152 km (Nashik to Ahilyanagar) and 222 km (Ahilyanagar to Akkalkot). The traffic estimate for this corridor is projected around 39,000 passenger car units (PCUs) per day. TOI has learnt that while for the first package, the govt may have to provide viability gap funding of around Rs 495 crore, the NHAI is likely to get annual premium from successful private highway builders.Responding to questions on how the massive project can be completed in just two years, officials said that the project will be bid out after getting 90% land and obtaining all approvals. “The land acquisition is at an advanced stage for the entire project,” said an official.