Will DMIC Walk the Talk on BRT/ Metro Rail in AURIC- Aurangabad?

Citizens of Aurangabad and most importantly Farmers of Aurangabad (being the most important stakeholders in the DMIC project having sacrificed their precious resource, land i.e. for the project and also future owners of 15 % developed land in the project), needs to be updated about the progress and whether the amenities and facilities promised are being built and implemented as per plan so that we have a truly smart and 21st century ready city as an outcome of the initiative​.
In this regard we would like to dwell in the past with reference to the RFQ cum RFP documents of Shendra – Bidkin and ask about the status of and progress made on various amenities/facilities promised in those documents especially related to transport infrastructure.

We believe that transport infrastructure is the most crucial clog which can make or mar the appeal of SBIA to a potential investor. Smart and seamless multimodal transportation within SBIA, well connected to Aurangabad city will go a long way in addressing one of the aspects of development, the need for intra city transportation. Hence update about the same is demanded and also is long overdue.

What the RFQ-cum-RFP For Programme Manager for New Cities (PMNC) For Shendra – Bidkin Industrial Area under the DMIC Project had to say on transport infrastructure of SBIA and Aurangabad in general.
Excerpt: “Conceptual transportation system has been proposed during the concept master plan evaluating internal circulation, external access, and internal road layouts at the district level. Public transport will include a bus system and metro rail system serving commuters and the maximum extent of the Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Area, respectively. The mass rapid transit corridor‘s Green Line will pass through the Shendra Bidkin Industrial Area, the Central Line will connect the industrial area to the airport and Karmad railway station, and the City Line will extend from the Aurangabad railway station to the southwest of the Shendra Bidkin Industrial Area. All three lines will form a loop around the Shendra Bidkin Industrial Area.”.

As the work is in progress, tenders are being awarded and public funds being spent in thousands of crores, We the citizens of Aurangabad along with the paramount stakeholders in the project, the Farmers i.e. would like to know the status of various smart and path breaking initiative, measures and design elements that DMIC / AITL (Aurangabd Industrial Township Ltd) promised to incorporate during development, as provided in the master plan.

We already know that the DPRs of Jalna road, Beed Bypass and Paithan roads are under preparation. We would like to know from DMIC/ AITL whether they will walk the talk and develop the proposed BRT and Metro systems for SBIA, Aurangabad. If yes, then whether they have communicated and conveyed their plans to various agencies in charge of preparation of DPRs as these very same roads will carry the proposed BRT & Metro lines which the DMIC plans to build in future. If the opportunity is missed at planning stage it will be a great tragedy for fast developing industrial city of Aurangabad.

Lack of communication and coordination between DMIC/AITL and MSRDC, PWD, NHAI could mean not providing for future public transport systems and its integrations with existing/ under development road infrastructure (espl. on Jalna & Paithan roads) of Aurangabad at DPR stage. If the opportunity is missed at planning stage it will be a great tragedy for fast developing industrial city of Aurangabad.

All stakeholders including investors, farmers and citizens need to be updated by bringing about periodic newsletters and communicating with them on a regular basis. This could be done by hiring good communicators public relation team (which the current setup seems to be lacking). Dissemination of information and communication is key to the success of any project and DMIC /AURIC /AITL will do good to the project by keeping all stakeholders informed and within the systems’ loop