Pune: Following instructions issued by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to expedite the High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR). Initially, an 8-km stretch of the route from Bopodi to Paud Road will be taken up on priority.
The HCMTR will facilitate speedy travel by reducing congestions. It is an elevated road of 37 km length, which will encircle Pune.
The HCMTR is a six-lane road project with a centralised Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) of 37 km in length and 24 metre width. Separate lanes will be made for heavy vehicles and four-wheelers with minimum 50-kmph speed. For the entire project, PMC needs 68.03 hectares of land. At present, it has got 15 hectares of private land through Transfer Development Rights (TDRs).
Two and three-wheelers will not be allowed on this route. There will be nine entry and exit points with 33 ramps. The civic body has estimated a period of three years to complete the project.
PM Modi recently laid the foundation stone of PMRDA’s metro rail corridor from Hinjawadi to Hadapsar.
During this function, CM Fadnavis had announced that the state would speed up the HCMTR project.
Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao held four meetings in the past two weeks to expedite the HCMTR. The PMC has estimated a cost of Rs 6,646 crore of the project.
The HCMTR was included from the 1987 Development Plan (DP) of the city. However, nothing substantial happened till 2014. Due to the efforts of senior Congress corporator Aba Bagul, the civic body pursued the project.
Now, the civic body has decided to start work on the Bopodi to Paud Road stretch, which can be completed early. There is no issue of land acquisition as all land belongs to the government such as SPPU, forest and agriculture departments.
A senior civic officials said, “Out of the total land for the project, almost 75 per cent land belongs to the State or Central governments. Hence, we want only working permission to float a tender and start work. However, due to a lack of funds, we cannot start the entire project simultaneously. So, we have decided to start one stretch, in which there is no private land required. The State government can give us working permission to start work. We don’t need to acquire land.”
Bopodi (Ambedkar Chowk)-Pune University- Paud Road (Erandwane) is the 8-km stretch. Around Rs 1,300 crore is the estimated cost of the stretch. The PMC will also allocate money for the project in its annual budget of 2019-20.
The HCMTR will pass through Khadki, Aundh, Shivajinagar, Erandwane, Kothrud, Karve Nagar, Dattawadi, Parvati, Bibvewadi, Wanawadi, Salisbury Park, Hadapsar, Mundhwa, Kalyani Nagar, Yerawada and Kalas areas.
