Hinjewadi IT park to get better roads

Finally Good news for IT companies in Hinjewadi IT parks.The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has awarded tenders for widening and repairs of roads and construction of new roads in Hinjewadi, where the Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Park is located. 
    Around 1.5 lakh people visit the location everyday, of which 70,000 are IT professionals. The annual IT export of the Hinjewadi Park is over Rs 2,000 crore. 
  The MIDC will construct two new roads at a cost of Rs 53 crore and will spend additional Rs 21.25 crore on widening and repairing of existing roads. Currently, there are only two routes which are mostly used by the IT professionals to reach here. The new roads will reduce the traffic load.” 
    The Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA), which represents the companies located in the IT park, was pressing for road construction and improvement of the existing roads. 
    In the last two years, minimum three major residential projects near the IT park were announced and the traffic of heavy vehicles carrying construction equipment, material and labour had increased, further deteriorating the road condition. 
A small patch from Wakad bridge to Shivaji chowk was recently widened by the MIDC, which has eased the traffic congestion to certain extent. 
    The existing roads from Wakad and Wakad police chowky connect the IT park to Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune municipal corporation limits. There is a mud and soil road from Wakad police chowky to Vinode vasti, a hamlet on the fringe area of the IT park. The MIDC has decided to reconstruct a 1.75 km-road connecting Wakad police chowky road to Tata junction in phase II. 
  It will be a 36m wide road with a total budget of Rs 25 crore, including cost of land acquisition. 
 The entire procedure of land notification for acquisition and addressing grievances of the affected has been completed and soon the price will be finalized. Funds have been sanctioned and road construction will start within two months. This road will divide traffic load coming from Pimpri Chinchwad area.” 
    The second proposed road connects Pashan-Sus road to Phase III of the IT park via Chande phata. There is a makeshift road here and a new road will be constructed with help of Pune zilla parishad and state public works department. Total length of the road is 11 km and 70% of the construction is completed. The remaining work will be finished at the earliest, which will cater to IT professionals commuting from Pune. At present, large number of IT professionals travel down to Wakad bridge and reach their offices via Shivaji chowk. The Chande road will not only reduce the traffic congestion, but a large chunk of traffic will be diverted to the new route.