The Union Cabinet on Wednesday may approve the much-awaited project of introducing a metro rail service in Pune after the Prime Minister's Office gave the green signal to it on Monday.
"When I checked with the Prime Minister's Office on Monday evening, I was told that Pune Metro has been approved by the PMO," Pune MP Anil Shirole was quoted by the Indian Express as saying. He added that a cabinet note on the Pune Metro rail service was being prepared. "The note will be placed before the Union Cabinet on Wednesday for final approval," Shirole said.
Shirole further added that if the Cabinet approved the project, "the state government will begin the process to get work on Pune Metro started." The project was sent to the PMO following the approval of the Union Finance Ministry's Public Investment Board (PIB) in October this year.
"The PIB has recommended the proposal of Pune Metro rail to the Union Cabinet. There have been no conditions attached... but some suggestions have been made that have been incorporated," municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar had told the IE in October.
The initial two metro routes are expected to cost around Rs 12,298 crore with the state and the central government contributing 20 percent each to the budget. Fifty percent of the money will be raised through loans, while the remaining 10 percent of the expenses will be taken care of by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).
Local civic bodies will be contributing Rs 1,278 crore, of which around Rs 972 crore is needed to buy land for the project that is expected to be completed by 2021-22. The actual contribution of money by both the PMC and PCMC would be Rs 317 crore if done through Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
