Journalism of Courage
Seven months after the Centre gave a green signal and following six letters from the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL) for a 10.84 acre land to build a Rs 1,251 crore multi-modal transit hub at Balewadi, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has tabled a proposal to hand over the plot to the firm.
In a proposal tabled before the city improvement committee, municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao said the PMC administration should be allowed to transfer the 10.84 acre land, of survey number 26 1/A, in Balewadi to the PSCDCL for the hub, considering that the state gave its nod to transfer the land. He said that in July, the Pune Smart City firm had demanded the land for the project. The PMC urged the district collectorate in August to allow the construction of the multi-modal transit hub and make relevant changes in the 7 by 12 extract of the land as the land owned by the state was transferred to the PMC for other purposes in the past.
The PMC had leased out the land to the PMPMPL for its bus depot after the octroi post was scrapped following abolition of octroi by the state. The PSCDCL was in the process of implementing the transit hub but on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis. In a letter to the PMC in July, the PSCDCL said: “We once again request the PMC support for an approval of the necessary decisions for implementation of the project through a discussion on priority in the forthcoming meeting of the general body meeting of the civic body”.
According to the PSCDCL, this was the sixth communication to the PMC with regards to the implementation of the project. The first letter had been sent in October last year. The PSCDL has been demanding transfer of the land parcel with development and monetisation rights, approval on leasing and sub-leasing of land parcel for 60 years, waiver off upfront, land premium towards lease and FSI premium on the proposed land parcel and change in land use from Public Semi-Public Zone to Commercial Use for Transit Oriented Development Zone.
The proposed transit hub will entail 19 lakh sqft of construction that includes FSI available from TOD and incentive FSI from Green Building. There would be construction for 9.71 lakh sqft for parking area. The area is adjacent to NH 48 on the eastern side, with direct access through two major roads — Balewadi Road and Balewadi-Hinjewadi Road — to Pune city.
On June 14, the PSCDCL board of directors had approved the release of expression of interest to explore the feasibility and viability of the project and assess the market conditions. The proposed hub will be a state of the art mixed land use development project, integrating public and private transport with buses and para-transit bays to take care of inter-city, intra-city, para-transit demand, integration with the city Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, bus transit facilities for both inter and intra city services of PMPML, MSRTC and private operators, integrated proposed Metro station as part of the Shivajinagar-Hinjewadi corridor.
It will have commercial projects like offices, retail outlets and multi-level car parking. Parking space for around 80 buses, parking for 1,942 four- wheelers and 3,884 two-wheelers. The commercial office space would be of around 17.5 lakh sqft. The transit hub terminal will also have connectivity
with Metro.
