THANE, May 11 -- The long-pending final hurdle in the construction of the 12.71-km Airoli-Katai Freeway has begun to be removed. Days after MMRDA announced that the much-awaited Katai-Shilphata (Mumbra) stretch of the corridor would open for motorists by December 2026, the state government has initiated the land acquisition process for the remaining portion of the project. Simultaneously, surveys to assess the land and structures affected by the project have also commenced. For completion of the remaining section of the freeway, a total of 18.33 hectares of land will be acquired in five villages. Designed as a continuous high-speed corridor, the freeway will reduce travel distance between Mulund and Katai Naka by up to eight kilometres. This connectivity will save about 45 minutes for commuters travelling between Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Badlapur. Besides, the project is expected to decongest half a dozen of Airoli's internal roads, the Thane-Belapur Road, Mahape Road, Shil Phata Junction, Kalyan Phata (NH-4) and Kalyan-Shil Road. For now, the section from Airoli to Thane-Belapur Road to National Highway 4 at Mumbra, which covers the initial two phases, is expected to open in a couple of months. The entire corridor is scheduled for completion in October 2028. Kalyan MP Dr Shrikant Shinde, who has been consistently pursuing the project, stated that the work was stalled primarily because the land required for the final phase was not available. "I made continuous efforts to facilitate the land acquisition in the TMC area," he said. "The Thane collector's office has now finally issued acquisition notices to the villages concerned." Shinde claimed that the majority of the land along the alignment was open land so there was unlikely to be major displacement of landowners or issues related to rehabilitation. Local leader Satyawan Mhatre, an advocate for the rights of affected landowners, corroborated this. "As 90% of the alignment passes through largely isolated areas, only a limited number of houses and structures, such as a few high-rises in certain pockets, are expected to be affected," he said. Sanjay Mukherjee, metropolitan commissioner of MMRDA, said, "Our approach is clear, be it metro or road, we are making infrastructure available to citizens at the earliest. The Airoli-Katai Naka corridor will change how people move across MMR. Once it is fully complete, citizens will truly experience what 'Mumbai in Minutes' means in real, everyday travel."...