<span style="color: #222222;">Union minister Nitin Gadkari today laid the foundation stones for two highway projects worth 1,600 crore rupees in Mumbai metropolitan region of Maharashtra. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The projects include eight-laning the Vadape-Thane bypass and four-laning of the road connecting Shahapur, Murbad,  Karjat and Khopoli. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Speaking on the occasion, Mr Gadkari said the work on the Baroda-Mumbai highway is expected to begin next month. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, for the proposed 12-lane Delhi-Mumbai expressway, government has adopted a new method to acquire land from the tribals, which will help in developing the region and also save money on land acquisition. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Mr Gadkari also underlined the need for promoting waterways as it a speedy and cheaper means of transport and said several waterway projects in and around Thane will be a reality soon. He also said the waterways should be linked on the lines of Venice. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Addressing the event, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government is making every effort to provide an integrated transport system. </span><br />''