PMC begins land acquisition for Inner Ring Road of PMRDA at Lohegaon

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun land acquisition for 45 kilometres of the Inner Ring Road of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) at Lohegaon.

The Inner Ring Road will cover 128.08 km and will be built in four phases. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will oversee 40 km, the PMC six kilometre, and the PMRDA the remaining 83 km. A 5.7 km stretch of the Inner Ring Road falls within the PMC limits and passes through Lohegaon. According to the agreement, the PMC will develop this stretch and hand it over to the PMRDA. The 65-metre-wide Inner Ring Road will connect Pune to Pimpri-Chinchwad via Lohegaon and will be built on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. The Ring Road Project, proposed in 2016, aims to ease the heavy traffic in Pune city’s busy core and boost suburban development by improving connectivity.

For the 5.7 km stretch of the Inner Ring Road, 3.7 lakh square metres of land needs to be acquired. The PMC has appointed Jitendra Singh as the contractor for land acquisition. So far, only 20,000 square metres of the required 3.7 lakh square metres’ land has been acquired. The PMC road department has started work on the 20,000 square metres of land on a PPP basis whereas a proposal to seek government approval for the land acquisition process has been submitted to the standing committee.

Dhanraj Ghagare, junior engineer, land and estate management department, said, “There are around 140 landowners whose land is required by the PMC for the Ring Road. Out of these, one landowner has handed over the land to the PMC. Two months ago, we sent a request letter to all private landowners to hand over their land to the PMC. However, only one landowner located in survey number 34, and 14 other landowners have approached us so far.”

Ashok Bhalkar, chief engineer of the PMRDA’s engineering department, said, “We have started land acquisition for the Ring Road within the PMRDA’s jurisdiction. The PMC is managing the portion of the Ring Road within its limits. The PMC will develop this stretch on a PPP model and hand it over to the PMRDA.”

With the number of heavy vehicles in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and nearby industrial areas increasing and urbanisation in Wagholi on Nagar Road having grown rapidly, the traffic from Shikrapur has slowed down causing long traffic jams and wastage of time and fuel. The 5.7 km long, 65 m wide Inner Ring Road will help heavy vehicles move from Nagar Road to Pimpri-Chinchwad via Lohegaon. Although the development plan (DP) shows a 10 m width, the first phase will have a 65 m wide road due to land acquisition challenges.