E-Paper
PMC allocates ₹112 crore for HCMTR despite Ajit Pawar’s suggestion of Neo-Metro
PUNE Despite deputy chief minister and Pune district guardian minister Ajit Pawar’s instruction to scrap the six-lane elevated High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) project, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has allotted ₹112 crore for the project in the 2021-22 draft budget
PUNE Despite deputy chief minister and Pune district guardian minister Ajit Pawar’s instruction to scrap the six-lane elevated High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) project, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has allotted ₹112 crore for the project in the 2021-22 draft budget.
Already, HCMTR project is back to square one due to modification of routes at 12 spots. Now, PMC will have to make a detailed project report (DPR) again to start work on the project.
Last year, Pawar had instructed the municipal administration to scrap the HCMTR and convert it into a Neo-Metro like Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has proposed in their area. After that, there was no development on the HCMTR front. However, PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar has allocated ₹112 crore for HCMTR for road development, land acquisition and formation of special cell for the project.
The corporation has estimated the cost of the project at ₹5,096 crore and three years to complete the project.
PMC has also proposed three funding options- HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model). HAM’s a hybrid — a mix of the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and BOT (build, operate, transfer) models and also DBFOT (Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer). But, the decision of selection of funding patter is pending for more than one year due to pandemic.
HCMTR project, meanwhile, is on hold as National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given directives to take environment clearance from the central government’s environment department. Besides that, there were 12 changes in different routes in the six-kilometre stretch. Out of that, five changes are a major one. However, the state government has not given approval for the modification of HCMTR.
Dinkar Gojare, superintendent engineer, road department, PMC, said, “After we get permission, we will be able to start work. We had already made a DPR of the project, but after the modifications, we will have to make it again.”
Aba Bagul, Congress leader, said, “We are against Neo-Metro proposal. Even, Durga Shanker Mishra, secretary, Union government urban development, said that Neo metro is applicable only in small cities. In Pune, the metro project is on, so there is no need for Neo-Metro.”
“The tender was also floated for the project, but it was scrapped due to 40 per cent above the actual project cost. Now, the corporation will have to float the tender once again,” he said.
“PMC has got 60 per cent of the land to run the project. We want only working permission on government land,” he said.
”We will meet chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and urban development minister Eknath Shinde to speed up the process and grant us required permission for the same,” he said.
Allocation for HCMTR in PMC draft budget 2021-22
Special cell and appointment of consultant - ₹2 crore
HCMTR road development- ₹100 crore
Land acquisition - ₹10 crore
