Four projects await arrival of ‘busy’ Prithviraj Chavan

The inaugurations of four major projects of Pimpri Chinchwad New Town Development Authority (PCNTDA) have been held up for the last several months as chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is too busy. The PCNTDA wants him to inaugurate the projects.

PCNTDA chief executive officer Dr Yogesh Mhase told DNA, “Work on these four projects has been completed. We hope they will be inaugurated by January 31. We tried our best to inaugurate these projects on January 26 itself. However, the inaugurations could not take place as the chief minister was busy on that day.”

The most prestigious of these four projects is the eco-friendly corporate office building constructed by the PCNTDA. It has constructed the office near Akurdi railway station by spending Rs38 crore. The new office is expected to get the status of green building from the central government soon.

The new office building needs minimal use of electricity for lighting as it has solar panels installed on the terrace. Besides, it has good ventilation and a separate sewage treatment plant. The PCNTDA proposes to rent the building that has 22,000 sq ft office area to corporate companies.

The other project whose inauguration is stuck is the flyovers built to reduce traffic congestion on the Aundh-Ravet BRTS route. The PCNTDA has constructed two flyovers at Kalewadi Phata by spending Rs18.92 crore. The total width of the two flyovers, constructed parallel to each other, is 730 mt.

Traffic Park and Nala Park are also among these projects. Traffic Park was developed for comprehensive training for future drivers. The PCNTDA has developed a segregated area at this Traffic Park for two and four-wheelers where the learning could be conducted through a systematic and progressive process, free from pedestrian movement.

Developed on nearly five acres land, it has a series of wide, single and two-lane, left side drive practice tracks. It also has raised gradient and the different levels of difficulties and complexities in vehicle control.

The PCNTDA hopes that it will provide world-class facilities for drivers’ training. It is the first-of-its-kind project developed with the objective to make people, especially children, aware about traffic rules and discipline. The cost of the project is Rs5.48 crore.