The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) standing committee approved the initial payment of ₹71 crore for the land acquisition process of the Katraj Kondwa Road.
In total, the PMC will need ₹375 crore to acquire 94,000 square feet of land for the road. The Maharashtra government has recently granted ₹139 crore, and PMC would be required to deposit 30% of the entire acquisition cost with the District Collector’s office as part of the process.
Civic officials confirmed that the PMC received ₹139 crore from the state government for the Katraj-Kondhwa Road. The civic body will now be able to begin land acquisition and other works for this road as a priority.
Commenting on the development, municipal commissioner Dr Rajendra Bhosale said, “Administration put the proposal in front of the standing committee and I approved the funds which will get deposited with the Collector office for the land acquisition process of the Katraj Kondwa Road.”
The Katraj-Kondhwa Road is an arterial road linking Satara Road to Solapur Road. While the road sees heavy outbound traffic from the westerly bypass to Solapur Road, it is only 15 to 20 metres wide and faces severe traffic congestion along the 3.5 km stretch from Kondhwa to Katraj junction through Khadi Machine Chowk.
Groundbreaking of the road was carried out in 2018 by the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. However, work on the road was not able to begin due to various reasons. In the meantime, landowners began demanding cash compensation for their land to be acquired for this road. As land acquisition costs were steep, the state government agreed to bear them.
{{/usCountry}}Groundbreaking of the road was carried out in 2018 by the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. However, work on the road was not able to begin due to various reasons. In the meantime, landowners began demanding cash compensation for their land to be acquired for this road. As land acquisition costs were steep, the state government agreed to bear them.
{{/usCountry}}In December 2018, a PMC-appointed contractor had started widening the road from the existing 15-20 metres to 84 metres. The project cost including goods and services tax (GST) was estimated to be ₹215 crore and the deadline for completion of the project was set as December 2021. However, the work ground to a halt last year as the PMC did not have funds to acquire land for the project.