Pune: The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) may have to cough up Rs600 crore for the first phase of the proposed ring road project.Senior PMRDA officials said on Thursday that the National Highways Authority of India was not willing to fund the 32km first phase of the 128km project.A final meeting with the Centre has been scheduled for February 25, to work out financial modalities, but PMRDA officials expressed confidence that they were “self-sufficient” and willing to take on the project, as they have the financial safety net of the town planning schemes, which were proposed to fund the ring road.The total cost the project has been pegged at Rs23,828 crore, with the Centre expected to contribute Rs10,234 crore. The executing body, PMRDA in this case, was to raise the remainder through various revenue generation models, including town planning schemes.However, the central had attached a rider to its contribution — Union minister Nitin Gadkari had directed the PMRDA to acquire 80% of land for the proposed project before seeking sanctions from NHAI.The authority has acquired only 24%. “Initially, the percentage of land acquisition was the hurdle, but now it appears that NHAI does not want to part with the funds. We are seeking the funds directly from the Ministry of Road Transport. However, we are ready to take on the project on our own, if we do not get the Centre’s support,” a senior PMRDA official said.At the moment, the PMRDA has about Rs1,100 crore in its coffers. In the first phase of the project, PMRDA would have to compensate nearly 10,000 property owners from Satara Road to Ahmednagar Road.PMRDA officials will have to opt for a direct purchase model for nearly 10km of the 32km length of the road for the first phase, which extends from Satara Road to Ahmednagar Road. The town planning scheme model to fund the project is likely to be implemented from Wagholi to Vadachiwadi and further to Katraj. The compensation offered to property owners would be depend on the type of land, an official said.PMRDA officials said the landowners will be compensated as per the Land Acquisition Act. One of the options proposed was the Mhalunge town planning model, wherein land owners have to surrender half their land. Once the scheme is completed, they would get half the developed land back.The ring road proposes to connect six national highways — Mumbai-Pune (NH-48), Pune-Nashik (NH-60), Pune-Ahmednagar (NH-753F), Pune-Solapur (NH-65), Pune-Saswad-Palkhi Marg (NH-965) and Pune-Bengaluru (NH-48) — that pass through the Pune metropolitan region.

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