The Pune Municipal Corporation has taken a critical step toward implementing the High Capacity Mass Transit Route project by opening technical bids for appointing a technical consultant to handle pre-tender activities. Four infrastructure engineering firms have submitted their bids for the contract.
PMC initiated the process to select a principal technical consultant following instructions from the state government to fast-track the long-delayed road network. The selected firm will be required to update 12-year-old technical and feasibility reports, conducting fresh environmental impact assessments, verifying updated land records, and managing pre-tender formalities ahead of inviting civil construction contracts.
The proposed 35.96-kilometre fully elevated circular road will feature six lanes constructed on single-pillar structures along a 24-metre right-of-way. Designed to encircle Pune city, the corridor begins at Bopodi junction and terminates at Vishrantwadi junction, incorporating up and down access ramps at 17 strategic locations to streamline traffic flow across 34 major city intersections.
Traffic planners have designated a design speed of 50 km/h for the main carriageway and 25 km/h for the entry and exit ramps. The project aims to provide an uninterrupted bypass route for private vehicles, buses, and emergency services, reducing heavy congestion on existing arterial roads across key urban clusters including Shivajinagar, Kothrud, Karve Nagar, Wanowrie, Hadapsar, and Kalyani Nagar.
Land requirements for the 35.96-km stretch are spread across diverse terrain types. Existing road networks account for 17.8 km of the alignment, while 5.28 km will pass over rivers, canals, and natural drainage channels. Open plots, forest pockets, greenfield areas, and railway land comprise 5.34 km, with the remaining 7.54 km traversing built-up zones, slum patches, and vacant urban lands.
Officials said nearly half of the required land footprint is already under civic ownership or available through existing rights-of-way, significantly reducing fresh acquisition hurdles. Modifications were recently made at 12 locations along the route to minimize land acquisition costs and avoid structural conflicts where the corridor intersects with expanding Pune Metro lines.
The corporation targets concluding the technical bid evaluations within the next few weeks to officially award the consultancy mandate. Following the completion of updated statutory clearances and tender documentation, civic authorities plan to float civil execution tenders by late October, moving the elevated ring corridor closer to ground execution.
