The Swargate flyover project has been postponed yet again. This time, the project is stuck in the standing committee of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for re-structuring of funds and might be approved after taking suggestions from corporators in the next week.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has slammed the civic administration for unnecessarily taking time on the project resulting in a cost escalation.
“The project was approved by the Standing Committee and General Body (GB) last year and work was expected to start this year,” said Madhuri Misal, MLA, BJP. “Every year, the project cost rises by 9 per cent. The municipal commissioner presented a docket to the committee informing about the cost escalation.
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This docket is stuck in the standing committee in the name of cost re-structuring and it is taking unnecessary time to clear what was already approved last year.”
“We are figuring out how to reduce the cost of the project and have demanded for suggestions from corporators. They will review the project and final decision is expected next week,” said Vishal Tambe, chairman, Standing Committee.
According to MSRDC’s plan, the flyover will have two lanes 1.4 km long. It will start from Shankarsheth Road to Satara Road in an ‘L’ shape. The Rs157 crore project is designed to ease traffic congestion at Swargate and make the movement of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) and state transport (ST) buses smooth.
Man Friday
Pune Municipal Corporation has appointed Shashikant Limaye, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for Metro Project. The initial contract is for six months and monthly budget is Rs 1.5 lakh. Limaye has worked for Delhi Metro and Indian Railways. He will also work for initial drawings and financial aspects of the project.
Price rise
PMC had given the contract to the MSRDC in 2007. For that purpose, PMC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2011.
It also paid Rs 40 crore to MSRDC for the project. The estimated cost in 2007, which stood at Rs 99 crore, rose to Rs 140 crore in 2011-12. And now, it has shot up to Rs 158 crore. Last week, MSRDC suggested a revised budget to accommodate the rise in project price.
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