Except for one corridor, the rest will be completed this year, the
civic body has said in its written replies to queries by NCP corporator R
S Kumar. There have already been huge delays in road-widening works for
the corridors to be readied.

The civic body had started work
on widening four major roads in the civic limits to increase
connectivity and improve public transport to more than 10 lakh people in
2006. Four BRTS
corridors are being developed, one along the Pune-Mumbai highway, the
second on Aundh-Ravet, Wakad-Nashik Phata and Kalewadi Phata-Dehu Alandi
roads.

However, except for the 12-km highway stretch between
Nigdi and Dapodi, there has been no road widening because of delays in
land acquisition. The widening of the highway stretch to 61 m was
completed more than five years ago. However, the municipal corporation
has not been able to implement the BRTS project.

Civic
officials admitted that road-widening works have been delayed due to
land acquisition and that they are hoping to meet the deadlines for
completing the BRTS projects.

As per the civic administration’s
claims, two projects will be completed, this year. These include the
first BRTS route on the highway stretch, and the Nashik Phata-Wakad Road
stretch. The work on developing the second corridor on Aundh-Ravet Road
began in September 2008 and is expected to be completed by this
December. Work on the fourth route between Kalewadi Phata-Dehu Alandi
Road began in August 2009 and is expected to be completed by next
August.

During the presentation of the draft budget, municipal
commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi had announced that the BRTS will be
operational on the highway stretch by January 2014. However, Shiv Sena members had raised queries about road safety.

The civic body subsequently appointed an agency to look into the road
safety issues of the BRTS operations on the highway stretch. The BRTS
operations on the first corridor have been mired in controversies
related to the design of the buses. The PCMC insisted that it wanted
buses with doors on the left and right because all bus stations on the
BRTS corridor in its limits will be on the right while those in Pune
were on the left.

The PMPML bought such buses with doors
opening on both sides a year ago but the BRTS corridors have not been
completed and the buses are being used for routine passenger services.

Shirish Poreddy, spokesperson for the engineering department of the
PCMC, said, “Work on widening of the Pune-Mumbai highway has been
completed. The two-storied flyover at Nashik phata chowk along the
highway stretch will be completed this October.”