Indore, Sep 16 (PTI) Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday inaugurated or laid foundation stones of 34 road projects worth Rs 9,577 crore in Madhya Pradesh. Officials said these projects were linked to 1,356-km-long roads in Madhya Pradesh. Of these, a 168km stretch of Gwalior-Jhansi-Khajuraho road, constructed at a cost of Rs 2,209 core, was inaugurated. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also took part in the function, while Union ministers from the state Narendra Singh Tomar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Virendra Kumar, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Prahlad Patel joined in event online. In the afternoon, Gadkari inspected the progress of under-construction Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at Jaora in Ratlam district.Gadkari said at a function in Ratlam that the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is the world’s longest highway having a total length of 1,350-km. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will pass through Madhya Pradesh (nearly 250km), while another high-speed road corridor, the 404-km Chambal Expressway will link far-flung areas of MP, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh portion of the eight-lane highway is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 8,500 crore, Gadkari said. According to the officials, the eight-lane Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway would pass through western MP covering 102.4 km area stretch in Mandsaur, 90.1 km in Ratlam and 52 km in Jhabual.They said of the around 245 km of this road project in Madhya Pradesh, 106 km had been constructed and the time limit to complete the Expressway was November 2022. PTI HWP LAL RSY RSY