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Eight years on, Pune-Satara highway widening project misses set deadline on December 5
Even though NHAI extended the deadline four times, Reliance Infra, the company responsible for carrying out the project, has once again applied for an extension till April-May 2019 as the work near Nasarapur is still incomplete.
Passengers travelling on National Highway - 4 between Pune to Satara may not have respite from traffic hurdles so soon as the road widening work is still incomplete and the contractor is seeking yet another deadline.
The widening of the 140-km long stretch of the Pune-Satara highway that commissioned in 2008, started work on October 1, 2010 but the project has missed its December 5 deadline which was fixed by the National highway authority of India (NHAI). Earlier in June, Nitin Gadkari, Union transport minister had said that key hurdle of land acquisition has been completed and assured that the work will be completed by December 5.
The road widening work of the Pune-Satara highway, was initially supposed to be completed by March 31, 2013. Even though NHAI extended the deadline four times, Reliance Infra, the company responsible for carrying out the project, has once again applied for an extension till April-May 2019 as the work near Nasarapur is still incomplete. .
"Reliance Infra has demanded yet another extension till April-May 2019. We have initiated the process to take a call on the application by the contractor and our seniors will soon take decision on it. As of now reliance has completed expansion work up to 130 km and according to them they need more time to complete remaining work," said Suhas Chitnis, project director, NHAI.
Right To Information (RTI) activist Vivek Velankar, who has been pursuing the issue associated with the delay in the road widening work, said,"On one hand ,Nitin Gadkari, Minister of roadways and transport said his ministry is constructing the road with the speed of 30 km per day,then why this 140 km road expansion project is taking more than eight years? "
Gadkari had said that out of the 140km stretch, the work that is pending on the 12 km will be completed soon. On his visit to Pune in June Gadkari said, “There were some hurdles in the completion of project. Now, these hurdles have been removed and the contractor will complete the work before December 5.”
Velankar added that,“The government should cancel two toll plaza in this 140 km stretch,because this slows down the construction work which inturn causes inconvenience to commuters. The question are commuters paying toll for such poor services?”
NHAI had sanctioned the proposal for expanding the Pune-Satara highway into a six lane highway in 2008 and had earmarked Rs.1,984 crore for the same.The contract was given to Reliance Infra. The deadline was set for March 2013. However, the contractor managed to complete only 40 per cent of the project in three years and sought additional time on various occasions. Though the last deadline given was March 31, 2018, Reliance Infra said that only 90 per cent of the work has been completed, a claim discarded by activists.
According to police records, the work on the stretch has also led to a large number of accidents. In December 2013, the traffic branch of the city police had submitted a report to the NHAI listing 20 accident-prone areas on a 34-km stretch of the highway from Kiwale to Katraj.
