On CM’s priority list, PMC misses June deadline to start ring road project

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will be unable to meet the June deadline to kick-start the high capacity mass transit route (HCMTR) project, promised by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Saurabh Rao, Pune municipal commissioner, will hold a meeting to review the ambitious ring road project at the PMC headquarters on Thursday (June 6).

Though the civic administration is taking steps to execute the project, it is likely to start by December this year.

Inaugurating the multi model hub at Swargate recently, Fadnavis said the authorities will execute the HCMTR project on priority and instructed Pune mayor Mukta Tilak and Rao to chalk out plans. Rao is taking monthly review of the project as per the chief minister’s instruction.

Dinkar Gojari, executive engineer, PMC, said, “The civic body floated tenders for executing the project. As only a single bidder took part, the tender was published again and the last date for seeking application is June 14. PMC is planning to execute the project on BOT (build operate and transfer) model. The tendering is similar to National Highways Authority of India model, and PMC is executing the project as HAM (hybrid annuity model).”

Municipal commissioner has formed three cells for executing the project. One for land acquisition, second for identifying and shifting utilities, and third cell for tendering and financial processes.

What is HCMTR

High capacity mass transit route (HCMTR) project is an elevated six-lane inner ring road connecting Bopodi-Savitribai Phule Pune University junction -Paud road - Satara road-Kondhwa road - Solapur road -Ahmednagar road - Vishrantwadi (total length 35.96km) in the City. The road comprises two dedicated lanes for BRTS with 26 stations, four lanes for private vehicles (4-wheelers) with 17 up-ramps and 16 down ramps

Hybrid annuity model (HAM)

In India, the new HAM is a mix of BOT Annuity and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) models. As per the design, the government will contribute 40% of the project cost in the first five years through annual payments (annuity). The remaining payment will be made on the basis of assets created and the performance of the developer. Here, hybrid annuity means the first 40% payment is made as fixed amount in five equal instalments whereas the remaining 60% is paid as variable annuity amount after the completion of the project depending upon the value of assets created.  

Project details

Length - 37 km

Width -24 metre

Number of lane - Six

Cost of the project - Rs 5,096 crore

Total land required for the project - 77 hectare

Total stretch of road to be elevated: 37 km

Land status: Almost 50 percentage alignment of the road is on existing road . 25 percentage land is state and central government owned, including irrigation department, forest and other government lands. Defence land is near Khadki and Lohegaon airport. PMC identified private lands and negotiations on with owners for land acquisition