Pune: Neo-Metro draft DPR to be ready by March

PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will receive the draft detailed project report (DPR) of the neo-Metro project on High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) in Pimpri Chinchwad by end of March.
Municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar told TOI on Tuesday that MahaMetro has been told to prepare the draft DPR.
The civic administration has made a provision of Rs 50 crore for Metro and neo-Metro projects in the draft budget of 2020-21. “The traffic on the proposed HCMTR is not very high so Metro is not suitable. Further, if Metro is implemented on the stretch, it be an expensive deal with not enough passenger load,” Hardikar said.
Neo-Metro is a type of mass transport that runs on elevated route but does not have rail tracks. Instead, trolley buses are used. “The cost of the neo-Metro is 40% less than that of the Metro. Once passenger load increases, the civic body can lay railway tracks for light railway or Metro. The estimated cost of this project is likely to be around Rs 150 crore,” Hardikar said.
A number of houses have come up on the land reserved for HCMTR in Walhekarwadi, Rahatani, Kalewadi. The residents claimed that they purchased the land from farmers around 20 to 30 years ago.
A civic official said around 70% of the land required for the project was in the possession of the civic body.