New Chakan airport gets Rs200 crore nod

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has sanctioned Rs200 crore for the proposed Chakan international airport, which will come up on a new 700-hectare site, adjacent to the previous one.

A 18-km metro railway corridor has also been proposed linking the airport to the international exhibition and convention centre in Moshi, said divisional commissioner, Dilip Band, on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference at the Pimpri Chinchwad New Township Development Authority (PCNTDA) office in Nigdi, he said, “The old site was scrapped due to farmers’ opposition, but there are no such hurdles at the new site. The project would require rehabilitation of only 80 households. The government will definitely offer more compensation to these families, as the project is extremely important for Pune,” he said.

With the development of the airport and the exhibition centre, the area will emerge as a major hub in the city.

There are 10,000 parking spaces available at the Moshi exhibition centre. Passengers can park their vehicles at the centre and can take the metro to the airport, Band said.

He added that the cost of the metro link would be borne by the PCNTDA and the Airports Authority of India. The PCNTDA will set up a special purpose vehicle for this venture.

PCNTDA approves 140 crore for the construction of the Pune International Exhibition and Convention Centre at Moshi

The Pimpri-Chinchwad New Township Development Authority (PCNTDA) has made a provision of Rs 140 crore for the construction of the Pune International Exhibition and Convention Centre at Moshi in its Rs 607.18 crore draft budget for 2011-12 which shows a surplus of Rs 205.77 crore.

Suhas Divse, chief executive officer (CEO), PCNTDA presented the draft budget to divisional commissioner Dilip Band, president of the PCNTDA and the PCNTDA committee on Monday. The draft budget has a provision of Rs 401.41 crore for expenditure.

The draft budget was approved after discussions.

The convention centre will be built on a 240-acre plot of land in sector 5 and 8 in Moshi. A SPV has been created for the project called PIECCL in which PCNTDA has 94 percent share.

Around Rs 400 crore will be spent on first phase of the construction. Divse said, "Bids will be invited for the exhibition and convention centre in two months."

The budget has a carry forward of Rs 342.85 crore from 2010-11. There is a provision of Rs 61.23 crore for revenue expenditure and Rs 340.17 crore for capital expenditure. A provision of Rs 118 crore has been made for various developmental projects and Rs 22.56 crore for administrative expenditure.

PCNTDA has made provision of Rs 6.70 crore for constructing a subway to connect sectors 28 to 29 near Akurdi railway station, Rs 25.50 crore for a flyover near Mercedes Benz plant in Chikhli, Rs 5.20 crore for a flyover at Kudalwadi and Rs 10.50 crore for a flyover at Kalewadi chowk on Aundh-Ravet road.

PCNTDA has made a provision of Rs 5 crore for constructing affordable houses for the low and middle- income groups at Sector 30.

"This project will be implemented on a 7.5 acre plot and PCNTDA plans to construct around 450 to 500 houses. We expect to start the construction of the project after three months," Divse said.

PCNTDA has made a provision of Rs 1.10 crore for fencing around the acquired land to prevent encroachments, Divse said. Provision has been made for putting up direction boards in the PCNTDA limits.

Pune-Nashik Road to be widened

To address the problems of growing traffic congestion in Chakan-Khed-Talegoan industrial areas, the state government has decided to initiate steps to widen the Pune-Nashik highway (NH 50).

According to the plan, the 30-km stretch between Nashik Phata and Rajgurunagar will be widened to six lanes from the existing four while the remaining stretch between Rajgurunagar and Nashik will be widened to four lanes from the existing two.

The public works department (PWD) recently called for a tender to appoint a consultant to prepare the detail project report (DPR) for six-laning of road.

An official from the department said once the DPR is ready, it will be sent to the state for approval. This will followed by inviting tenders for actual implementation of project. "The DPR will include conducting a details survey of the entire stretch from Nashik phata to Rajgurunagar, identification of areas required for acquisition to undertake the expansion of two additional lanes, preparation of estimates; and study of all other issues pertaining to expansion of the road," said the official.

The expansion becomes inevitable considering a significant increase in vehicular traffic, owing to newly-developed residential areas in Nashik phata-Chakan stretch and new industries coming up in Rajgurunagar and Chakan areas.

The expansion of Chakan MIDC has increased the traffic of heavy vehicles on this road.

Moreover, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had written to the government demanding widening of the Pune-Nahik highway to six-lane up to Moshi. The PCMC also has planned to construct flyovers to increase capacity and streamline road connectivity.

Besides six-laning of Nashik phata-Rajgurunagar stretch, the state also has taken steps for the four-laning of Rajgurunagar-Nashik stretch. The work to prepare a DPR of this allotted to the private contractor.

Currently, a four-lane road is operational on Pune-Nashik highway up to Rajgurunagar and two-lane road after that till Nashik.

Chandmal Parmar, road advisor, said, "Along with six-laning of Pune-Khed road of NH 50, the government also needs to initiate steps for six-laning of Talegaon-Chakan road, which is a direct connection to the Mumbai via expressway. Unless this road is not expanded to six lanes, heavy vehicles will have to travel either to Pune and then reach the expressway, or they will have to travel on the existing small road up to Talegaon."

Construction of Moshi convention centre to begin early 2012

The construction work of the International Convention and Exhibition Centre will begin at Moshi early 2012, said Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma, after the inauguration of the sixth edition of the engineering expo at Autocluster in Chinchwad on Friday.

"We have a shortage of large exhibition venues in the country and there are large venues only at Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. We are developing an international convention and exhibition centre at Moshi. The master plan is ready. We have invited bids for construction of the first phase of this project and hope to start construction of two exhibition halls and convention centre in the first phase by early 2012," Sharma said.

He said that the centre has the potential to become the biggest in Asia.

The Engineering Expo 2011 will be open to public till November 21. There are 225 stalls. Manufacturers of machines, tools and accessories; hydraulics and pneumatics and instrumentation, besides light and medium industries, IT products and services units, automation, electrical and electronics, material handling equipment and process plant machinery and equipment are participating in the expo.

R Bhaskar, plant head, commercial vehicle business unit, Tata Motors, said, "The growth of Indian economy depends, to a great extent, on the growth of the manufacturing sector. Moreover, India's growth has to cover all sections of the industry. Therefore, an event like the engineering expo not only gives manufacturers an opportunity to showcase their products, but also allow technology-related learning to be shared and transferred between all stakeholders."

RV Krishnan, chairman, Business Development Bureau (India) said, "If Maharashtra has to progress, one should demand abolition of octroi. The production process needs to be streamlined. Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the industry. It's a shame that the industry did not take a stand on India Against Corruption and did not support Anna Hazare's movement."

News Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Construction-of-Moshi-convention-centre-to-begin-early-2012/articleshow/10786649.cms

Flying Over Pimpri-Chinchwad

Soon, people will literally be flying over Pimpri-Chinchwad, once the network of flyovers, designed to crisscross this rapidly growing Twin City of Pune, are commissioned.

For decades, the main arterial road connecting Pune to Pimpri-Chinchwad was NH-4, the Pune-Mumbai Highway, running in a roughly South-East to North-West direction. The scenario changed dramatically with the arrival of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the consequent Dehu Road-Katraj Westerly by-pass. Another arrival with just as far reaching effects, was the Rajiv Gandhi IT Park at Hinjewadi.The once sleepy Aundh Road and Baner Road became important routes to Hinjewadi and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and feeders to the by-pass; Aundh Road, in particular, grew into another major arterial road, parallel to the Pune-Mumbai Highway, significantly reducing the commuting time between the University Circle and the Western parts of Pimpri-Chinchwad, like Pimple Saudagar, Pimple Gurav, Thergaon and Wakad.

The traffic on this road at first multiplied, and soon grew exponentially, until the roads leading from Kalewadi, Thergaon and Dange Chowk running in a roughly South-North direction towards Pimpri and Chinchwad respectively became quagmires, threatening to sink under the sheer numbers of vehicles. Town Planners of PCMC and PCNTDA swung into action and drew up plans for road widening, and pivotally, for Flyovers.

The Nigdi Flyover was the first, on  the NH-4 from Akurdi towards Bhakti-Shakti Chowk, but the greatest influence on reducing traffic congestion in Pimpri-Chinchwad will certainly be those running perpendicular to the Pune-Mumbai Highway in a generally South-North direction

The South-North Flyovers

Chapekar Chowk
This 1.5 kilometer Flyover, scheduled to be open for traffic in November 2010, will ease the chaotic state of the road leading from Thergaon to the Chinchwad railway over bridge to the Pune-Mumbai Highway, as well as from Pradhikaran and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Link Road.
Bhosari
The 1,400-m Bhosari flyover on the Pune-Nashik highway which connects Pimpri-Chinchwad to Chakan,  opened for traffic in May, and it has already reduced travel time for commuters to Moshi, Chikhali, Chakan and beyond.
Empire Estate
The flyover near Empire Estate, on the old Pune-Mumbai highway, is part of the Kalewadi to Dehu-Alandi BRTS corridor. With a length of  1.9 km, this will become the longest Flyover in Pune District, while the width will be around 27 metres. It will have six lanes each 3.5 metres wide, including an exclusive lane in each direction for BRTS buses, a cycle track on both sides of the flyover, measuring 2.5 metres. And a 1.5 metre wide footpath.
The flyover will begin in Kalewadi and cross the Pavana river, Pimpri-Chinchwad link road, Pune-Lonavla railway line and the old Pune-Mumbai highway and end near the Auto Cluster in Chinchwad.
Nashik Phata
This is the first of its kind in Maharashtra, spanning a river, railway line and road, ‘Triple R’ as it is fondly referred to.It will be a boon to traffic from Wakad on the Expressway by-pass and the suburbs serviced by the Aundh-Ravet Road like Pimple Gurav and Kasarwadi going towards the Industrial hubs of Bhosari and Chakan, and onwards towards Nashik, and vice versa.
This two-tiered  1.1 kilometre long flyover will have  100-foot wide roads .It will span  first the Pavana River to the South, then the Pune- Mumbai railway line, and finally  the Pune-Mumbai Highway, onto the Pune- Nashik Highway.
More Flyovers in the pipeline
A few more Flyovers are on the drawing boards, at Dange Chowk and Kalewadi Phata on the Aundh-Ravet Road, and one at Kudalwadi junction, easing the traffic to Chikhali and the Dehu-Alandi Road.

Pimpri-Chinchwad —a Metropolis in the Making

Pimpri- Chinchwad has rapidly shaken off its image of being a predominantly industrial township, a mere adjunct to Pune, and now bids fair to becoming recognized as a fully developed city in its own right.
The metamorphosis has not been easy. Several decades of apathy, a laissez-faire attitude and inertia to change had to be overcome. And overcome, it did, thanks to several efficient town planners and administrators at both, the Pimpri-Chinchwad New Township Authority (PCNTDA) and the Pimpri- Chinchwad  Municipal Corporation ( PCMC ), backed to the hilt by the Government of Maharashtra.
Swept aside have been the narrow, potholed roads choked with smoke belching trucks and buses, shanty towns, open drains and malodorous swamps, breeding grounds for a host of diseases that are typical of most industrial townships. They have been replaced by broad, multi-lane paved roads, impressive flyovers, well maintained public parks, ample potable water storage and supply network and an effective drainage system.
If one were to compare Pimpri-Chinchwad with Pune, some of the statistics are quite astonishing. Pimpri-Chinchwad, with an area of 178 sq. km. has 630 km of roads, over 100 public gardens and only 69 designated slums, as compared to Pune which, in an  area of 244 sq.km. has 650 km of roads, 79 public gardens and 560 slums!
The results of the impressive infrastructure development speak for themselves. Where there were only a handful of large Indian manufacturing companies like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Finolex, Garware and a few British, Swedish and German multi-nationals, there is now a proliferation of globally renowned IT companies,  and several   leading Indian Engineering and consumer durable manufacturing  companies… if one were to consider Chakan, which, though it lies outside the ambit of PCMC  is accessible through and is largely serviced by PCMC, then one would add the names of some of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers!
Scores of well designed housing complexes, offering a wide range of housing options  from modest single bedroom flats to palatial bungalows dot the skyline from Baner to Chikhali; PCMC is home to several fine campuses offering graduate and post-graduate education in virtually every discipline; not to be left behind are banks and financial institutions and high end health care units, as well as retail and entertainment malls.
The planned 240 acre International Exhibition & Convention Centre along the Pune-Nashik Highway is perhaps the finest signpost to this transformation of Pimpri-Chinchwad— truly a Metropolis in the Making.