PCMC Gets Rs 32 Crore From World Bank For Flyover Projects
PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has received Rs 32 crore from the World Bank (WB), the first instalment of its loan for flyover projects to be conducted in the twin township.
Speaking to TOI, Dilip Kudale, co-ordinator, engineering department said, “The PCMC received the instalment on September 23.”
Terms and conditions for the Rs 210-crore loan from the WB were finalised in November and a formal agreement signed on February 5. It is meant for the construction of three flyovers at Nashik Phata chowk in Kasarwadi, Empire Estate in Chinchwad and Dange chowk in Thergaon.
Of the three, work has already begun on the flyover at Nashik Phata chowk, which is probably the state’s first double-storied flyover. The chowk sees heavy traffic all day because the Pune-Mumbai highway and the Pune-Nashik highway, both of which have been widened in recent times, meet at this point.
Nashik Phata chowk, Phugewadi chowk and Dapodi chowk are the only chowks on the Pune-Mumbai highway within PCMC limits that have traffic signals. Once the flyover is constructed, it is intended that there will be no signal at the Nashik Phata chowk so that motorists will be able to travel from Nigdi to the Phugewadi flyover chowk and vice versa on old Pune-Mumbai highway.
The cost of this flyover is expected to be Rs 93 crore.
“The contractor has taken soil samples by drilling the land on the Pune-Mumbai highway near the chowk,” said Kudale, when asked about the progress of the project. “Now, construction of the foundation for the pillars is in progress.”
He said that the World Bank would release the next instalments as and when stages of the Nashik Phata flyover were completed.
Empire Estate flyover will enable vehicles from Chinchwad and nearby areas to cross the Pune-Mumbai highway, Pune-Lonavla railway tracks, Pimpri-Chinchwad link road and Pavana river to get to Kalewadi and Wakad on the other side.
Kudale said the PCMC has invited bids for the project and that the contractor would be selected after the bids were examined. The estimated cost for the project is around Rs 99 crore.
