PUNE (Metro Rail News): The Maharashtra government on Wednesday, 20th April has approved the Swargate to Katraj underground metro route extension and will provide a share of Rs 450.95 crore for the project. The total project cost is Rs 3,668 crore and it is expected to be completed by April 2027.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in September, 2021 had cleared the extension of the underground metro rail route which is a stretch of 5.4 km and sent a proposal for approval to the Maharashtra government. As the state government has cleared the metro route, the proposal will now be sent to the Centre, and if the clearance is given by the Centre the work will begin soon.
Earlier, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had said that the state government has decided to fund the project despite escalated costs due to the underground metro rail. “In the earlier meeting with the authorities, I had told them, the Swargate-Pimpri route can be expanded till Katraj and the route was approved. In the route expansion, there is the share of corporations and state and centre governments. The Centre should play its part, and the corporation (PMC) will play its part,” he had said.
The Maharashtra government requested the central government to approve the project and provide its share of Rs 440.32 crore. The state government also approved borrowing Rs 1,803.79 crore loan from the financial institutions but the loan repayment would be done by Maha-Metro only for which the state government will not take any burden.
Atul Gadgil, project director, Maha-Metro, said, “We have cleared one hurdle as we have got state government nod. Now, the Urban Development Department nod would help commence work on this extension of route.”
