Pune Metro snippets

With the cost of the proposed metro rail project for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad escalating by Rs.2,199 crore, people will have to pay higher fares to travel by metro.
The revised estimated cost of the project is now pegged at Rs.10,183 crore. As per the revised estimates, the project on the Chinchwad-Swargate corridor will cost Rs.6,960 crores and the project on Vanaj-Ramwadi route will now cost Rs.3,223 crores. The total cost (for both corridors) has increased by nearly Rs.2,199 crore, as compared to the estimated cost in the year 2009.
The civic administration presented the revised cost proposal to the standing committee for the two corridors. The revised cost was communicated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to PMC last month.
The PMC was expected to complete the project in 2014, but now the civic body has set 2019 as the deadline for completion of the phase one project which includes both corridors. Work on the project is expected to start in the financial year 2014-2015.
In June last year, the state cabinet approved the 14.925-km elevated metro rail route from Vanaz to Ramwadi. The cabinet also decided to form a special purpose vehicle, the Pune Metro Rail Corporation, to implement the project.
The PCMC to Swargate route is 16.59 km long, of which 7.15 km would pass through PCMC limits and the remaining 9.44 km through Khadki Cantonment and PMC areas.
As per the final draft submitted to the PMC by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in June 2009, the state government was to approve the plan the same month, while the central government was to give its consent by August 2009. The tendering system was scheduled for October that year, after which the actual work was to start. As per this plan, the city was to have the metro by May 30, 2014.
“The docket has come for the reference of the standing committee. It will go the state government for final approval,” said Baburao Chandere, chairman of the standing committee.