Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) plans to raise around ₹1,250 crore from international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) to upgrade the city’s road and drainage infrastructure, municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said on Wednesday.
A significant portion of the funds is expected to support infrastructure development in the 32 recently merged villages. In these villages, basic civic amenities such as proper roads and stormwater drainage networks remain inadequate despite rapid urbanisation.
Ram said the civic administration has begun exploring the possibility of securing a multilateral loan from institutions such as the ADB or the World Bank, calling it a first-of-its-kind funding initiative in the municipal corporation’s history.
“This will be the first time that PMC is looking at raising such a large loan from international financial institutions specifically for urban infrastructure projects,” Ram said. “We are proposing around ₹500 crore for road infrastructure upgrades and about ₹750 crore for strengthening the city’s drainage network.”
Officials from the global lending agencies recently visited the PMC headquarters and held preliminary discussions with the commissioner and senior civic officials regarding possible financing for these projects. The lending arrangement is expected to be finalised in the coming months after detailed technical and financial evaluations.
Ram said PMC’s strong financial standing would help secure favourable loan terms. “Our financial credibility and repayment capacity will determine the final loan allocation and the interest rate offered by these institutions. Fortunately, PMC’s credit rating is very good, which puts us in a strong position to obtain funding at competitive rates,” he said.
According to the commissioner, multilateral agencies like the ADB and World Bank generally offer loans with lower interest rates and longer repayment tenures than many domestic financing options, making them suitable for large urban infrastructure projects.
Much of the planned investment is expected to focus on the 32 villages merged into PMC limits in recent years, where the civic body faces mounting pressure to provide basic infrastructure such as wider roads, stormwater drainage systems and other urban services. Many of these areas have witnessed rapid construction activity but continue to struggle with poor road conditions and waterlogging during monsoon.
The civic administration is also planning two tunnel projects estimated to cost around ₹400 crore to ease traffic congestion and improve connectivity in key parts of the city.
Ram said PMC’s broader infrastructure focus will remain on three core sectors — water supply, roads and drainage — which together may require nearly ₹3,000 crore in investments in the coming years.
“Water supply, roads and drainage are the most critical urban services. Addressing long-standing civic challenges in Pune will require large-scale investment in these sectors, and we will have to take bold steps,” Ram said. He added that tapping global financial institutions along with exploring public-private partnership (PPP) models for civic amenity spaces could help bridge the funding gap as the city continues to expand rapidly.
