New Roads for Kolhapur
Setting a new
trend in improving the condition of state roads, the
Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has
decided to privatise the entire road infrastructure in
Kolhapur city and award the maintenance and operating contract
to IRB Infrastructure Developers, a Mumbai-based road
infrastructure firm.
It is for the
first time in the history of India’s road sector that a single
operator has been appointed to develop and maintain all major
roads in the city. The contract is valid for 30 years.
Kolhapur, a well-developed and culturally rich city of 600,000
in western Maharashtra, has an inner city road network of 49.5
km. It is famous for its temples and agri-goods such as
sugarcane.
Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had announced the
government’s plans to seek private sector help for inner-city
road development in Latur, Pune and Kolhapur in 2004. Kolhapur
is the first city where the contract has been bagged by a
private sector player.
“The project model is unique in nature because it won’t create
any additional financial burden to the Kolhapur Municipality
as well as the citizens in the city. We want to replicate the
same model in other cities in Maharashtra,”
Subhash Nage, MSRDC chief engineer, said. The decision was
made on March 2, when the bids were opened. Mumbai-based
Atlanta Infrastructure was the other bidder.
The Kolhapur project will cover the upgradation of all major
roads in Kolhapur into four-lane with all related
infrastructure like footpaths. The total length of the road
under upgradation is 49.5 km, and is estimated to be complete
within two years.
After upgradation, IRB Infrastructure would own and operate
these roads for 30 years. The total cost of the upgradation
project is estimated at Rs 400 crore. MSRDSC’s traffic data
shows that around 45,000 vehicles enter and exit city through
nine entry/exit points in a single day.
“The Kolhapur project is an innovative model. If the revenue
model of the project is successful, it can be replicated in
the other urban cites. In the highway sector, it has been
experimented successfully sometime back. However, in the urban
road sector it is for the first time,” Parvesh Minocha,
managing director, Feedback Ventures, an infrastructure
consultancy firm said.
A senior IRB official said the company would recover its
investments through toll collection rights at the peripheral
entry points of the city’s municipal limits and the right to
develop a 7-acre land, given by the municipal corporation, for
99 years.
So then we are thrilled to know and realise the fact that
KOLHAPUR will be the first city to be model for the others to
follow. This will bring about a great change in the lifestyle
of City and also work as a catalyst in the upward rise of this
ancient town of glory.
