The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has appointed a Pune-based consultant to undertake a survey, identify land in three districts, and prepare the related development project report (DPR) for the proposed Pune-Nashik industrial corridor project.

The appointed consultant, Monarch Surveyors and Engineering Consultants is expected to take nine to 12 months to complete the survey and DPR. Post approval, land acquisition will begin. Monarch is also involved in the survey work and other groundwork for the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg. The corridor will be connected to Pune’s proposed ring road in the Alandi area, and at the other end, it will connect to the Samruddhi Mahamarg and Surat-Chennai expressway.

The proposed six-lane access-controlled 180-km-long expressway to be built with an outlay of over Rs 10,000 crore will pass through rural Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts, and enable faster transportation of cargo. For instance, the transportation of goods or agricultural produce from Pune or Ahmednagar being sent to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai will use the proposed industrial corridor and then access Samruddhi to reach the port.

Similarly, it will ease the movement of cargo to Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Further, the project is expected to attract new investments in the said three districts building on stronger connectivity to the port as well as southern states.