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Cost Escalation in Road Widening Work Approved

  • There has been an escalation of Rs 13.63 crore in the cost of widening and relaying the Aundh-Ravet Road undertaken by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. The civic body is widening the 14 km Aundh-Ravet Road to 45 metres to develop it as bus rapid transit system (BRTS) route. Two short notice resolutions permitting the escalation of costs were approved at the standing committee meeting on Tuesday.The first short notice resolution was for approving a cost escalation of Rs 4.08 crore in phase V of the project. The resolution states that the portion of the road passing through Tathawade village is 30 metre as per the development plan. The standing committee had approved a resolution on August 28, 2008 for widening this road at an expenditure of Rs 28.63 crore. The civic body has acquired land for widening this road to 45 metres, so the additional stretch has also to be developed at the cost of Rs 4.08 crore.
  • The second short notice resolution was for approving cost escalation of Rs 9.54 crore in phase VI of the project. Here too the civic body has acquired extra land to increase the road width to 45 metres instead of 30 metres mentioned in the development plan. Development of the extra portion would need Rs 9.54 crore. Height of a bridge on a nullah along the stretch has to be increased and drainage and water pipelines have been laid.M T Kamble, joint city engineer, said, "The civic body is widening five of the total seven stretches in phases. Earlier, the civic body could not widen the road in the first two phases as there was a delay in obtaining defence land. Now, the civic body has widened the road near Aundh hospital which has reduced traffic congestion on this important road." tnnHe said the work of widening five sections of the Aundh-Ravet Road from the Aundh hospital to Ravet is 90% complete and is expected to be ready by end of December.The Aundh-Ravet Road is 14.4 km long. This road has been divided into seven sections and contracts have been awarded to widen and relay these sections. The widening work began in 2008.

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