Maha Budget: Finance minister mentions infra projects sans budget allocation

On the other hand, Fadnavis announced funds of Rs527 crores for Shirdi Airport, Rs734 crores for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Airport, and Rs100 crores for Mihan Project at Nagpur

During his state budget 2023-24 speech on Thursday, deputy chief minister and finance minister Devendra Fadnavis made passing reference to various infrastructure projects involving Pune without mentioning any funds’ allocation for the same. On the other hand, Fadnavis announced funds of Rs527 crores for Shirdi Airport, Rs734 crores for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Airport, and Rs100 crores for Mihan Project at Nagpur.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state Marathi Language Minister Deepak Kesarkar display a suitcase containing papers of the State Budget 2023-24 in the presence of State CM Eknath Shinde to be presented during the Budget Session of the State Assembly, in Mumbai on Thursday. (ANI PHOTO)

Fadnavis referred to the Pune Ring Road, Pune-Nashik Semi High-Speed Railway, Purandar International Airport, and two extension routes of the metro rail from Swargate to Katraj and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Nigdi. However, he made no mention of any specific financial allocation for these projects. While the metro extension routes have been included under the PM GatiShakti routes, a final nod is still awaited from the union cabinet.

In case of the Pune Ring Road, Fadnavis did not mention any fund allocation but said that the state government would develop the Pune Ring Road and that work would be completed this year.

The Pune-Nashik Semi High-Speed Railway recently received the central government’s nod, raising hopes that work on the project would begin soon. While the total cost of this 200 km project is Rs16,039 crores, the state government did not mention the outlay proposed for the same.

A Maha Metro official on condition of anonymity said, “Though the funds for the Swargate to Katraj underground stretch and the PCMC to Nigdi stretch may not have been announced in the budget, they might be in the financial statement. However, it is clear that whatever the share coming from the state government, it will definitely release the same for the metro project.”

While presenting the budget, the Maharashtra government also proposed to complete the work on the missing link of the Pune-Mumbai expressway. Work on this is already underway and plans are afoot to open it to the public by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, land acquisition remains a major challenge for all of Pune’s infrastructure projects.