Pune Metro's Swargate-Katraj Route Gets Costlier With Bibwewadi and Balaji Nagar Stations: Tender To Be Issued Soon, Work Set To Begin By April

Since two additional stations will have to be included on the Pune Metro's Swargate to Katraj route, the Maharashtra Metro Railway Corporation (Mahametro) will have to invite fresh tenders for the subway. The cost of the Swargate-Katraj route will increase by Rs 683 crore for the two new stations, Bibwewadi and Balaji Nagar.

The general meeting of the Municipal Corporation has recently approved the increased cost of the subway, which will cost the Municipal Corporation an additional Rs 68 crore. After Deputy Chief Minister and Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar assured that the state government will approve the increased cost for this route, Mahametro has set a target of starting work by April and issuing a revised tender soon.

Why were new stations addded?

Three stations were fixed on the 5.463 km extended route of the Metro between Swargate and Katraj as per the original project plan. Since the distance between the three stations, namely Market Yard, Padyavati, and Katraj, is too long, the citizens and public representatives had demanded the inclusion of two more stations from Mahametro. The Pune Municipal Corporation's standing committee and general meeting have recently approved the revised proposal for two new stations. According to the original plan, the Municipal Corporation was to spend Rs 181 crore. Instead, it will now have to spend Rs 250 crore.

According to the original plan, two more new stations have now been included instead of just three stations. These include two stations, namely Bibwewadi and Balaji Nagar. The station at Bibwewadi will be near the Anna Bhau Sathe Memorial, whereas the location of the station at Padmavati has been decided opposite the Shankar Maharaj Math.

Apart from this, the station at Balaji Nagar will be opposite the main entrance of Bharati Vidyapeeth (Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park), while the last Katraj station has been shifted, and the metro station will be constructed under the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) bus station at Katraj. The change in the metro station at Katraj will slightly increase the distance of the track.