Civic body wants PPP for two road projects

“The projects of internal ring road and the road directly connecting Warje and Kharadi are must for the city as these will ease traffic congestion. The projects have been pending for long and now they have been given in-principle approval to implement them through PPP,” said Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal. However,the ruling alliance partner Congress,along with the opposition BJP,Shiv Sena and MNS,has registered their protest seeking detail information on the highly expensive project.

The ring road,a high capacity mass transit route (HCMTR),is 34-km long,24-m to 30-m wide and is expected to cost Rs 1,285 crore while the road connecting Warje and Kharadi will be 21-km long with an estimated cost of Rs 1,500 crore.

“The decision to implement the project on PPP model cannot be taken directly unless the details of the projects are worked out and made public,” said Congress leader Ulhas Bagul.

The projects were proposed almost 20 years ago,he said adding,“There are issues of land acquisition that have to be cleared first. The land has been encroached upon at many places making it difficult for the implementation of the project.”

Stormy PMC panel meet likely today

THE PMC standing committee is likely to witness a stormy meeting on Tuesday with two corporators pushing the proposal to acquire land in Kharadi for road construction when there has been a strong demand for roads in other parts of the area. The civic administration had proposed the land acquisition plan for construction of the development road saying the residential societies in the area have said that a bridge connecting the road will be developed by them if the PMC develops the road. However,the proposal was unanimously rejected in the previous standing committee meeting.