PUNE (Metro Rail News): Metropolitan Line of the Pune Metro is the third line of the city’s under-construction mass transit network. It will run from Civil Court, Pune to Megapolis Pune in Hinjawadi. The 23.3-km line will be completely elevated and will have 23 stations and will align with the MahaMetro lines at the Civil Court interchange station. The construction will be taken up in two phases, the section between Hinjawadi and Balewadi is expected to be taken up first followed by the section between Balewadi and Civil Court, Shivaji Nagar. A metro car shed will be built in Hinjawadi. The MIDC will provide 55 acres of land in Hinjawadi for setting up a Metro rail depot. 

On 3 August 2018, PMRDA announced the final bidder for the project — the joint venture Tata Realty-Siemens. On 3 October 2018, Tata Realty-Siemens were awarded the contract to execute the project on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer model. The formal concession agreement was signed in September 2019 with the construction expected to begin in March 2020. The project is set to be completed in March 2023.

Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority is the planning and development authority for the Pune Metropolitan Region with an outlook towards channelizing growth in a strategic and orderly manner. Dr. Suhas Diwase, IAS (2009) is currently serving as the Metropolitan Commissioner of the Authority.

Contract for conducting the geotechnical investigation was awarded to Soiltech India Private Limited. The geotechnical investigation commenced on June 19, 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdown, work on several projects had been delayed, including Line 3. Following a gap of nearly 11 months, piling works resumed at multiple locations near Hinjewadi in May 2020.

Introduction and Salient Features of the Project

The Rajiv Gandhi IT Park at Hinjawadi, Pune is one of the prime IT Parks in the country. It is home to 300 odd IT companies, employing around 3 lakh IT professionals. To effectively address traffic problems in Hinjawadi IT Park and nearby areas and enable sustainable urbanization, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has undertaken the development of the “Pune Metro Line – 3” connecting Hinjawadi to the city center Shivajinagar under Mass Rapid Transit System.

This is the first project to be implemented on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis under the Central Government’s New Metro Rail Policy 2017. The route starts from Maan, Hinjawadi, goes from Wakad, Balewadi, Baner, University Chowk to Shivajinagar and ends at District and Sessions Court, Pune. The length of this elevated metro is23.203 km. There are 23 stations on this route.

• The project has been undertaken through the Public Private Partnership mode under the Concept, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model and has been awarded to the Joint Venture of TRIL Urban Transport Pvt Ltd and Siemens Project Ventures GmbH.
• A special purpose vehicle ‘Pune IT City Metro Rail Limited’ has been set up to undertake this project and is the Concessionaire for this Project.
• The design capacity of this metro is 30,000 Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic.
• The cost of the project (including cost of land acquisition, relocation of service channels etc.) is Rs. 8313 crores.
• In order to solve the traffic congestion at the highly bustling Savitribai Phule Pune University Square and ensure proper traffic management for the next 50 years, an Integrated Double Decker Flyover has been planned, having provision of vehicular movement at the first floor and Metro at the second. The estimated cost of the flyover is about Rs. 315 cr.
• Approximate travel time for the entire route will be 35 minutes.
• This is one of the first projects in the country where about 97.2% land was acquired before actual start of construction works.
• Shri Vivek Kharwadkar, Chief Engineer, PMRDA is heading the project and is assisted by Smt. Rinaj Pathan, Superintending Engineer, PMRDA, Shri Bharatkumar Baviskar, Superintending

Engineer, PMRDA, Shri Vyankaatesh Bane, Executive Engineer, PMRDA, Shri Mallawat, Executive Engineer, PMRDA and other officers.

• The Appointed Date for the Project was declared on November 27, 2021 and the Project is expected to be completed within 40 months.
• The Project has an Economic IRR of 17.49%.

Key Benefits:

• Metro is an efficient and fast mode of transport and it would effectively address traffic snarls faced by city dwellers, working professionals and hence supporting and enabling rapid urbanization
• This air-conditioned, comfortable, safe and speed mode of transport would serve around 2.61 lakh (estimated by DMRC for the year 2021) commuters daily.
• In medium to long run, this will result in significant reduction in travel time, fuel costs and travel expenses along with lowering of noise and air pollution
•    Eventually it will help to attract more investments in the region paving way for further growth and prosperity of the region.

Funding Pattern:

• The Concessionaire shall contribute about Rs. 1315 cr for the development of the Project. About Rs. 4789 cr shall be funded through debt and the State Bank of India has been identified as Lead Financial Institution for the project.
• The Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1225 cr during the construction phase as Viability Gap Funding. The Tripartite Agreement between the Central Government, the Lead Financial Institution and the Concessionaire is signed in May 2022.
• The State Government shall contribute Rs. 90 cr during the construction phase and about Rs. 1035 cr during operations phase as State’s share of Viability Gap Funding . The Government of Maharashtra in its Resolution dated 27th August 2019 has allotted 10.6 hectare land owned by Government Polytechnic, 7.14 hectare land owned by Dairy Development Board and 4.17 hectare land owned by Pune Rural Police and Wireless Department to the Authority for monetization to meet the State Government’s share of Viability Gap Funding for the Project.
• Other expenses like land acquisition, utility shifting, double decker flyover etc. shall be borne by the Authority and the State Government.

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