The Pune Municipal Corporation has begun the process of appointing a consultant to prepare the detailed project report for the proposed 36-kilometre High Capacity Mass Transit Route, or HCMTR, a planned elevated inner ring road intended to address traffic congestion in the city. The DPR is expected to take three months, after which the civic body plans to begin the tender process.
The project has an estimated cost of about ₹10,000 crore and is being pursued through a series of senior-level meetings in Pune and Mumbai. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is reported to be taking a special interest in moving the project forward. The municipal administration has started the consultant appointment process as the first step towards preparing the project report.
According to the report, the HCMTR was first proposed in 1986 as a 36-kilometre elevated circular route to respond to Pune’s expansion and growing traffic congestion. The revised plan includes changes at 12 locations compared with the earlier alignment. The administration has said that changes to sections passing through slum areas, along the river and through heavily congested locations have made implementation comparatively easier.
The project has been divided into four stages. Although a combined DPR will be prepared for the entire HCMTR, each package will be prepared separately from an implementation perspective, project department head Dinkar Gojare said, according to the report. The consultant selected by the municipal corporation will be given three months to complete the DPR.
Land acquisition is expected to account for about ₹1,300 crore of the overall project cost. Municipal officials have said that a substantial portion of the proposed route passes through land owned by the state government and the municipal corporation. Since the route is planned as an elevated road, the administration expects to secure permissions for the government-owned land through a single approval process, the report said.
Municipal Commissioner Ram said the chief minister had issued instructions to various state government departments to prevent delays in obtaining the required permissions. The administration has also identified a direct resettlement requirement in Vadgaon Sheri, where the proposed alignment is expected to affect the homes of 147 people. Officials have said that these residents will be rehabilitated.
The next formal milestone is the completion of the DPR. The municipal corporation is expected to move to the tender process after the consultant submits the report, while the final project cost, package-wise scope, alignment details and implementation schedule will be established through the DPR and subsequent tender documents.
