Journalism of Courage
The much-awaited 162-km ring road aimed at reducing congestion in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad has received a much needed push,with the tenders to be floated by July 27 and appointments for the alignment study likely to commence by September-October,revealed senior officials of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
The ring road is aimed at reducing traffic in the city by at least 40 per cent. The project was taken forward at a recent meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Pawar stated that the financial model of giving development rights will work out well in implementing the project.
The ring road was proposed in 2007. After several modifications in the implementation plan,it was decided to hand it over to private contractors,who would get TDR incentives. The road would also serve the local urban and rural population and there would be rules to not levy toll tax along this route,said MSRDC officials. Nearly 80 lakh people live along the route.
The model for the project to cost nearly Rs 10,408 crore looks at acquiring three times the required width of 100 metres and handing over development rights on the excess land to developers with adequate stakes for people giving up the land for the project. This process would help generate over 8 crore square feet (1,127.8 hectares) of FSI along the stretch. Sources said that Pawar said in the meeting that the ring road project should gain momentum and such projects in other cities where developers were given 4-5 FSI had worked out well.
The decision to build the 161.73-km ring road,a circular one,was taken on June 12,2007 to decongest Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation areas. The project will be taken forward in four phases. The first is a 39.89-km stretch between Theur Phata to Chimbli on NH 9,the second is 46.40 km from Chimbli to Pirangut on NH 50,the third is 51.20 km from Pirangut to Sriramnagar on NH 4,and the last,32.24 km,is from Gogalwadi to Theur Phata on NH 9. Twelve flyovers have been proposed on the six-lanes ring road,which will have four rail bridges and 13 tunnels as well.
