Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the JNPT-Shivare section of the proposed expressway, which will run parallel to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, has been completed and construction of the stretch will begin within a month.

He explained that the proposed Mumbai-Pune-Bengaluru Expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Bengaluru to eight hours and the journey between Pune and Mumbai to one and a half hours. This statement was made during the foundation-laying ceremony for the Rs 6.32 billion Dahiwadi-Mayni-Vita stretch of NH-160 upgrade project held in Vita, Sangli district.

The minister revealed that the construction of the JNPT-Shivare section would involve an investment of Rs 100 billion. He described how the Mumbai-Pune parallel road would start at Atal Setu and connect to the Pune Ring Road. The expressway will cover 360 km in Maharashtra and 496 km in Karnataka, making travel from Atal Setu to Pune possible in about one and a half hours and from Pune to Bengaluru in nearly five hours. Gadkari noted that the expressway would pass through drought-prone areas, which would boost economic growth in the region. He also mentioned that aircraft landing pads have been proposed at five locations along the expressway. The total length of the expressway will be 800 km, with a speed limit of 120 km per hour.

Gadkari reflected on his time as Maharashtra's irrigation minister, saying that he prioritised irrigation schemes, which enabled local farmers to grow cash crops like sugarcane and improve their economic condition. He stressed that the Pune-Bengaluru Expressway contributed to the economic prosperity of cities like Satara and Kolhapur, and that the new expressway passing through rural areas in Raigad, Pune, Satara and Sangli districts would boost economic development in those regions.

In addition, Gadkari carried out an aerial inspection of the construction work on the Sangli-Kolhapur section of NH166 (Nagpur-Ratnagiri Highway) and the six-lane Kagal-Satara project, part of NH48, using a helicopter.