New alignment for Pune-Satara road, a long way

Four lanes on the road, a vital link to southern India, was essential as the road has been catering to double the traffic load than its actual capacity. According to a survey carried out by Kirloskar Consultants in 1995, the road which has a capacity of carrying 40,000 tonne of traffic volume was in reality carrying a burden of 85,000 tonne of traffic volume every day.

According to the estimates prepared in 1993-94, a total of Rs 364 crore was required for the project, out of which Rs 35 crore and Rs 55 crore were to be spent on the new alignments to Khambataki and Katraj Ghats, respectively at the 1993-94 prices.

It was decided that the new alignment to the Khambataki Ghat should take priority over making lanes on the road. “The Ghat has become geometrically substandard as it was not done up during the road repairs in 1973,” the sources in the Public Works Department told The Indian Express.

A completely new alignment to the Khambataki Ghat was imperative for making lanes of existing ghat road was not possible. “Observing the 18 meter width standard in ghat would have been very difficult, besides, a minimum radius of 55 meter has to be maintained while widening the ghat. Also, it would have been impractical to close down the ghat and carry out the work,” sources added.

The proposed fresh alignment at the Khambataki Ghat will be shorter. Its proposed length is 5.5 km while the present ghat is of eight kilometre. “It is very near to the present ghat and a 700 meter long tunnel will reduce the actual ghat stretch to mere 2.5 km, as the alignment will be developed over an existing village road of about three kilometre length,” sources added.

The new alignment will lead to one-way traffic which will cut the travelling time by about half-an-hour besides substantial quantity of fuel, said a senior highway division official.

About 36 hectare of land needs to be acquired for the new alignment near Khandala, on the foot hills of Khambataki Ghat. Out of these 36 hectare, four hectare of land belongs to forest department.

“The proposal of acquiring the land has been sent to the forest department and the department will be compensated with eight hectare of land in the nearby areas which will not be part of proposed alignment,” the official further said.

It’s only after seven years that the land acquisition work for the project of constructing the alignment has begun. The authorities are expecting that it would be over in two three months and the actual work of developing the alignment will begin in 1998.

The government has decided to carry out the work on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The entire project is expected to cost about Rs 364 crore. The expenses incurred by the private party will be recovered in a form of toll which the party will collect from the vehicle owners using the ghat.

Sources further said that parties like Larsen and Toubro, Patil Group from Belgaum and Walecha Group have shown their interest in the project of alignment to the Khambataki Ghat.

“However, there is still long way to go till the tenders are actually invited,” commented the official.