PMRDA to start work on first phase of Pune ring road in October

The PMRDA will start work on the proposed first phase of the 128 km ring road, from Satara Road to Ahmednagar Road, in October.

Officials of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority said tenders for the service roads have been approved and the Centre has agreed to sanction funds for the main carriageway.

PMRDA commissioner Kiran Gitte said, “Work on the first phase of the ring road (32.3 km) should start in October. The PMRDA will use Rs.326 crore of its own funds to build the service lanes for the proposed first phase, while the Centre is expected to release Rs.1,981 crore for the main carriageway.”

The total cost of the project is Rs.23,828 crore, of which the Centre will give Rs.10,234 crore, while the remaining Rs.13,594 crore will have to be generated through town planning schemes and other means. The PMRDA will acquire land through town planning schemes, raising FSI or through TDR for the 97 km stretch of the ring road, while for the remaining 31 km, the land will be purchased directly from the land owners after negotiations.

The PMRDA officials said the first phase — Satara Road to Ahmednagar Road — is expected to see a spurt in traffic movement in the coming years. “It will be followed by the second phase, from Ahmednagar Road to Nashik Road,” they said.

The second phase will see the PMRDA constructing a road from Wadki to Pargaon Memane village in the Purandar taluka for better connectivity to the proposed international airport. The proposed road will be from Wadki to Dive Ghat, Saswad and then to Pargaon Memane — one of the seven villages where land will be acquired for the proposed airport.

Gitte said the project will be taken up on priority and be executed at the earliest. “We are waiting for the Maharashtra Airport Development Company’s detailed project report for the airport. Once the it is ready, we will know the expanse of the project,” he added.

Cooling consumer inflation, steady IIP

Retail inflation cooled to a 10-month low in August on the back of easing food prices, while industrial output growth held above the 6% mark in July, bringing some relief for policymakers battling turbulence in the currency and stock markets.

Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, rose an annual 3.7% in August, slower than previous month’s 4.2%. Rural retail inflation was at 3.4%, while urban areas recorded 3.9%. The food price index slowed to 0.3% in August compared with 1.3% in the previous month.

Economists said the dip in August retail inflation below the Monetary Policy Committee’s medium-term target of 4%, juxtaposed by the looming inflation risks, robust GDP growth for the first quarter and continued weakening of the rupee, would complicate the next monetary policy decision in October.

Most economists said they expect RBI to hike rates to calm financial markets, particularly the rupee, which has weakened over 11% to emerge as Asia’s worst performing currency this year, hit by high oil prices and selloff in emerging markets.

Separate data showed the index of industrial production rose an annual 6.6% in July, marginally lower than the revised 6.9% in June but higher than 1% growth recorded in July 2017. In April-July, the sector grew 5.4% compared with 1.7% in the same period a year earlier.

Economists said they expect the buoyancy to sustain due to the festival demand in the months ahead.

Car sales dip in August

Car sales witnessed a marginal dip in August, the second month in a row, as a higher base and sluggish demand due to heavy rains in many states hit volumes.

Wholesale deliveries to dealerships in August stood at 1.97 lakh units, a decline of 1% over the 1.99 lakh units sold in the same month last year.

Volume of passenger vehicles (cars, SUVs and vans) fell 2% to 2.87 lakh units against 2.94 lakh units in August last year.

However, numbers in five months of this fiscal (ended August 2018) remain robust. Car sales in this period are up 10% and there is a similar growth for overall passenger vehicles category.

New models are also expected to give a boost to the industry, ahead of the festive season that starts in a month or so. While Mahindra and Mahindra has launched a new MPV Marazzo, Hyundai will be launching a new avatar of Santro.

While Mercedes-Benz will drive in a new C Class, Tata Motors and Maruti are set to roll out Harrier SUV and new Ertiga respectively.

Companies are expecting to finish this fiscal with a growth of around 10% for both cars and the larger passenger vehicles category. 

More Mumbai Metro Lines cleared

The Maharashtra state cabinet approved the extension of Metro Line 7—Dahisar to Andheri—on both sides. The entire project will be executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

To the north it will be known as Metro Line 9—Dahisar to Mira-Bhayander—and to the south as Metro Line 7A—Andheri to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

Both lines together will cost around Rs.6,600 crore.

Line 7A on airport land will be underground for 2.2 km of the total 3.2 km. The two lines together will have one underground and 10 overground metro stations.

The state government will provide a Rs.1,631 crore interest-free loan to cover Central and state taxes as well as the land cost.

The cabinet also approved the initial ticket charges for travelling on this route.

MMRDA has been allowed to raise loans for the project from bilateral, multilateral agencies, too.

The entire project is expected to be operational by 2022. Initially, 8.5 lakh people are estimated to travel on this route daily and by 2031, 11.2 lakh people are estimated to travel every day.

It will save 30-40 minutes of travel time.

While the original Metro Line 7 was touted to be operational by December 2019, sources said MMRDA is working to get the trial runs started by that time.

Recently, the MMRDA issued a public notice informing that it is required to widen the Western Express Highway at three places since the metro work is causing traffic congestion.

The metro and flyovers have made it difficult for buses to ply, said activist and architect Nitin Killawala.

Killawala further said work on the metro car shed is yet to begin so it is unlikely that it would be operational by 2019.

Metro man E Sreedharan, too, has said the metro in Mumbai must be underground as there is no space for widening of roads.

GoAir goes International

Film City set for a massive upgrade

Film City, Goregaon, is set for a major revamp. The state aims to not only make it a one-stop solution for all cinematic requirements, but also develop it as a preferred site for tourists. Nearly seven years after Film City’s redevelopment plan was announced, the government has floated global tenders for the Rs.2,600-crore project.

Film City is spread over 521 acres, over half of which will be used for redevelopment. Private studios and institutes that have already been allotted land there are not part of the project. Officials said they will start applying for permissions, including environmental clearances, once a bidder is selected and the design finalized.

Tenders were floated July-end, with December 12 as the last date for submission of bids, said an official from the Maharashtra Film Stage & Cultural Development Corporation, which is overseeing the project. “A key condition for the bidder is to ensure that trees are untouched, and that green cover is not reduced,” said an official.

The aim of the revamp is to make everything from pre-production to shooting to post-production available under one roof. As for developing tourism, an official said, “There is a huge demand for cine tourism in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood. People want to see shoots, meet stars and experience the history of cinema. We are trying to create all these experiences at Film City.”

The initial plan is for an amusement park, a museum, a wax museum on the lines of London’s Madame Tussauds, a Marathi cinema and culture museum, hotels, food courts, souvenir shops and viewing galleries for observing shoots. Importantly, the revamp will increase studio blocks from 11(mostly low-tech) to 31state-of-art facilities. Nevertheless, though Bollywood is India’s biggest film industry, its southern rival Tollywood houses the world’s largest studio complex. Hyderabad’s Ramoji Film City is a 47-studio unit production facility spread across 1,666 acres.

Film City, Goregaon, on an average hosts 60 shoots every day and earns Rs.65 crore in revenue annually, figures the government hopes will go up considerably after the revamp. Production houses that have used Film City say a lot can be done there.

Section 377 Judgement valid in Kashmir as well

Ending speculations, the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently under Governor’s rule, said the Supreme Court judgment on Section 377 is a law for the entire country and implementable in the state under Article 141 of the Constitution of India.

“The Supreme Court Judgment is a law for the whole country. The Section 377 RPC was not in consideration before the top court, but the judgment is a law for the whole country,” a government officer said.