Pune: Goodnews Punekars! The Maharashtra state cabinet permitted the first extension to the Rs 11,420 crore, 31-km Pune Metro Rail Network corridor. The government has given nod to extension of the Metro route from PCMC to Nigdi on the Swargate- Pimpri Chinchwad Line.

“This will be an additional route as the old route from Pimpri to Swargate has been revised,” the release by the Urban Development Department Ministry read.

The Pune Metro project is being implemented by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation, which is a jointly owned company of the central government and state government. The PCMC to Swargate Line which is 16 kms will be extended by 4.4 km from Pimpri to Nigdi. The extension of the route from Pimpri to Nigdi will require an extra expenditure of Rs 946.76 crore.

This will be an elevated line with three new stations at Chinchwad, Akurdi and Nigdi. The project will also have a depot, parking bays, multimodal transport integration and pedestrian bridge.

Also read: Welcome to Sant Tukaramnagar, Pune’s first metro station

The extension for the same route was given green signal two years back but the funding for the extension was not cleared. The Centre had covered its funding at 10 per cent of the construction cost so the Maharashtra government had to revise the funding model and consider a fresh offer to extend the metro.

Meanwhile, the Pune Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority has asked for approval for 70 km extension to Pune Metro Rail Network to cover a 125 km metro network.