Building Pune: Maharashtra mulls extending Pune Metro line to Khadakwasla dam

The minister said that the detailed project report of the original Metro route from Kharadi to Kolhewadi in Khadakwasla has been submitted to the state government and it too would be approved by the Cabinet and sent to the central government.

In response to a query by BJP legislator Bhimrao Tapkir, Samant said that the Cabinet will also approve the extension of Metro route from Swargate to Katraj and sent it for the Central government’s nod.

The Pune Metro officials have said that a separate detailed project report of the extended route up to Khadakwasla dam has to be prepared and then it would submit a supplementary proposal to the state government.

Pune MetroRail spokesperson Hemant Sonawane said, “The Pune Metro officials have recently visited the site to check the feasibility of extending the route to Khadakwasla dam. The authorities have given in-principle approval that the route can be extended till dam”.

On the completion of the first phase comprising two stretches of 33 kilometres (from Vanaz to Ramwadi and PCMC to Swargate), he said the operations of 24 km has begun while the work on the 9-km stretch is nearing completion.

The stretch from Ruby Hall to Ramwadi on the Vanaz-Ramwadi route would be ready by next month while the work on the underground Metro stretch from Shivajinagar to Swargate on PCMC-Swargate route will be completed by March-end, Sonawane said.

The Pune Metro Tuesday began the tender process for building the extended 4.5-km stretch from PCMC to Nigdi after it was cleared by the central government recently. It is to be developed at a cost of Rs 910.18 crore and the work will be completed in 130 weeks. The stretch will have four stations – Chinchwad, Akurdi, Nigdi and Bhakti Shakti chowk.

The proposal to extend the Metro route from Vanaz to Chandi Chowk is pending with the state government. Meanwhile, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has undertaken a study for developing Metro Lines 4 and 5 after the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) gave the go-ahead for implementing Phase 2 of Metro rail with an additional route of 113.23 km.

The PMRDA is developing Metro Line 3 in the city from Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar. It has received a detailed project report (DPR) from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the Metro Line 4 from Shivajinagar to Loni Kalbhor, which branches further towards Saswad and Swargate.

Maha Metro has prepared the DPR for Pune Metro Line 5 from Khadakwasla to Kharadi. The stretch from Swargate-Pulgate-Hadapsar is common for the two routes.