Civic projects in Pune likely to be hit as PMC needs ₹3,000 crore for land acquisition

Important civic projects such as high capacity mass transit route (HCMTR), Katraj-Kondhwa road and Shivshrusti are likely to prove challenging for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as it does not have the wherewithal to raise ₹3,000 crore for land acquisition for these and other projects next fiscal.

While presenting the draft civic budget for 2019-20 on Thursday, Saurabh Rao, Pune municipal commissioner, had mentioned that the civic body needs to immediately raise ₹1,286.27 crore towards land acquisition for important projects like gardens, road work and playgrounds.

Apart from these plans that needs funds, the civic body has also proposed various projects in the draft budget for 2019-20 which have huge land acquisition cost. These include the high capacity mass transit route project which needs ₹1,550 crore for land acquisition, Shivshrusti plan ( ₹200 crore) and Shivne-Kharadi road ( ₹100 crore). PMC also needs fund to acquire the remaining 30 per cent land needed for the Katraj-Kondhwa road.

Santosh Bhor, PMC land acquisition department head, said, “The department requires ₹1,286 crore immediately for land acquisition for 18 proposals which are in the final stage of award. These cases are going on since last many years. Besides these, there are proposals for small plots which are not related to major projects.”

Bhor said that funds are needed to acquire plots required for road works, sports ground, hospital and other reservations. He admitted that the pressure and cost of land acquisition on the civic body had increased after the government announced its new land acquisition policy.

The civic official said the PMC does not have enough funds to acquire all the lands reserved for various projects at one go and, therefore, was acquiring the lands by drawing up a priority list. It was offering compensation for land acquisition by way of cash and TDR (transfer of development rights), and, as credit bonds for land acquisition, as stated by the civic chief while presenting the draft budget on Thursday.

PMC will need ₹200 crore for land acquisition for Shivshrusti project as it falls in the bio diversity park (BDP) zone in Chandani chowk area. Since the land owners are not willing to accept compensation as per the BDP policy, the cost for the PMC could be higher.