State govt releases Rs 2.50 bn for Pune Ring Road project

The Maharashtra government has allocated Rs 2.50 billion for the land acquisition of the Pune Ring Road project, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced this week. The project is being executed by the Maharashtra Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The land acquisition will be carried out in 83 villages in six talukas of Pune district. The state government has set a budget of Rs 15 billion for this project. “The state government has handed over Rs 250 crore for the Pune ring road project. The district administration has begun land measurement,” said Shinde. Pune district collector Rajesh Deshmukh said, “90 per cent of measurement work has been completed. We have already initiated valuation process from the villages where measurement is done.” The MSRDC is expecting the tender process to be completed soon, and work on the ring road will commence in the next two months. It will be completed in 24 months, said officials. After the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government stepped down and the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power, there were questions about the project getting scrapped, as the new government had put a stop to various projects initiated by the MVA. Since the CM allocated the funds, it is clear the ring road project will finally see the light of day.v The 170-km Pune Ring Road will be an eight-lane express highway catering to vehicle speeds of 120 km per hour. According to the MSRDC, the ring road will split the city and the highway traffic, and help reduce vehicular pollution. See also: Breakthrough in the Delhi-Dehradun expressway projectSurat-Chennai economic corridor runs into green hurdle