Katraj-Kondhwa Road will be widened up to 84 metre: Nitin Gadkari; civic body starts follow-up

Pune: Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has promised to make the Katraj-Kondhwa Road 84-m wide. Now the civic administration has started working on it.

Currently, the road is being widened up to 50-m on priority due to issues in acquiring land. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) started widening the road up to 50 metre two years ago due to unprecedented traffic congestion and accidents on the thoroughfare. The State Government granted Rs 140 crore for widening the road, said Municipal Commissioner Dr Rajendra Bhosale.

A part of inner Ring Road, Katraj-Kondhwa Road has been in the limelight for the past many years. The Centre has granted it a status of a National Highway and its width is shown to be 84-m. Around 80 pc land acquisition for the 50-m road has been completed.

Earlier, Nitin Gadkari instructed officials to make the road width 84-m. The NHAI will spend funds to build the road. He directed the PMC to acquire land for the purpose. The PMC has now started acquiring land as per Gadkari’s instructions, said Dr Bhosale.

Required procedures will be followed to acquire land through the District Collectorate. Around 17,200 sq m land is needed to widen the road up to 84 metre. Around Rs 350 crore will be paid as compensation to owners of land, out of which the PMC would pay 30 pc, said Bhosale. Land acquisition for Katraj-Kondhwa Road has been completed. The work will be completed in the next six months. Further action will be taken after a formal direction by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said Bhosale.

Katraj flyover work underway

Dr Rajendra Bhosale said, “The flyover at Katraj Chowk will be completed in the next six months. The PMC is following up with the NHAI to get it built.”

How will the PMC solve this issue?

The civic body is widening the road from Rajas Society Chowk to Kondhwa Khadi Machine Chowk. The road is merely 24-m wide from Khadi Machine Chowk to Mantarwadi. This will result in traffic congestion on the stretch from Khadi Machine Chowk to Mantarwadi. Development works are underway on a large scale on both sides of this stretch. Once the population on this stretch increases, there will be bigger traffic issues here. However, it is still not clear how the civic administration would solve this problem.