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Journalism of Courage
In focus
Concerned over the traffic situation in Pune that has slowed down speed and increased travel time, the Maharashtra government has prepared a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) of Rs 1.30 lakh crore to resolve the traffic issues in Pune Metropolitan Region and take up infrastructure works that would increase the average travel speed in Pune to 30 km per hour by December 2026 from the existing speed of 12 km per hour.
“The current travel speed in Pune is 12 km per hour, which is very slow. Thus, there will be efforts taken to increase the speed of travel to 30 km per hour, which is the global benchmark for metro cities. This we will try to achieve by December 2026; so the infrastructure work will be sped up in Pune,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
He said that the CMP is for 2200 Sq km area of Pune Metropolitan Region including Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has been prepared considering the future needs of Pune.
The CMP will be implemented in three phases in next 30 years, Fadnavis said adding, “The total cost of implementation is Rs 1.30 lakh crore while the first phase implementation will require 62,000 crore.
The focus in CMP is to strengthen the public transport system in Pune with objectives to increase the public mobility in Pune via public transport to 30 percent and then to 50 percent, he said.
The chief minister said, “The CMP will ensure that the public transport is available to citizens within 500 metres of the start and end of their destination, so various available public transport integration has been planned.”
He said a network would be created of roads, tunnels, railway over bridges, grade separators in Pune for smooth and fast flow of traffic. “The roles and responsibilities of all different stakeholders have been fixed. Any traffic and transport related projects taken up by stakeholders should be in accordance with the CMP,” said Fadnavis.
There are short term works proposed by PMC and PCMC under CMP, he said the state government has approved the proposed intervention for resolving traffic issues which include removing 35 bottlenecks, developing missing link roads, use of Area Traffic Management System (ATMS) in 503 junctions that would help projection and steps for smooth flow of traffic smooth.
In core Pune, Fadnavis said only six percent of land is used for roads which are very narrow and traffic dispersal is difficult so a network of tunnels is must and is being planned in the congested area.
The Bus public transport has to be planned properly and increase the present fleet of 2,000 to 6,000 buses for PMPML in two years, said Fadnavis.
On canceling the Development Plan of PMRDA, the chief minister said it will not affect the implementation of CMP in the Metropolitan Region. “The state government would soon issue notification and appoint an agency for creating a road network in Pune Metropolitan Region Town Planning schemes which will be allowed for planned development.
