CM nod for Pune e-way expansion

A day after chief minister Prithviraj Chavan held the bureaucracy responsible for delay in approving infrastructure projects in the state, some key projects may finally get the green light, while the Metro II project could be scrapped.

A day after chief minister Prithviraj Chavan held the bureaucracy responsible for delay in approving infrastructure projects in the state, some key projects may finally get the green light, while the Metro II project could be scrapped.

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During a media interaction on Friday, Chavan had blamed the bureaucracy for the delay in approving projects such as Mumbai water transport plan and the Mumbai-Pune expressway expansion project, saying he was yet to receive files from the administration.

However, on Saturday, he decided to take up some of the transport projects that had been proposed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), for approval. The move comes after a delay of almost a year.

Chavan also said the Metro II project, the proposed Charkop- Bandra- Mankhurd corridor, will be scrapped in its entirety if the state does not get the land it needs to construct a metro depot. Two proposals were cleared on Saturday, one for capacity augmentation of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and another finalising the winners of tenders for eastern and western water transport. This means the MSRDC will finally have some big projects to work on. In the past, the trans-harbour sea link project had been awarded to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) instead.