Harit Setu in Pimpri Chinchwad is a one-of-a-kind streets project that moves away from the usual approach of pedestrianising isolated roads. Led by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, it is designed to create accessible neighbourhoods, with an aims to create safer, more efficient, and a network of well-connected streets, while establishing new green links in the city. Harit Setu is also India’s first active mobility project to be financed through municipal green bonds, making it the city’s most ambitious investment towards Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) so far.
In Pimpri Chinchwad’s locality of Pradhikaran, the project pilot has transformed 20 km of streets. Residents now use these streets for their morning and evening walks; grandparents stroll with their grandchildren; and children have more space to walk and cycle on the way to school. What was once just a road has slowly started becoming a public space.
But despite its pioneering vision and positive impact, the project has received mixed responses. Since work began in 2024, concerns about its Rs 200-crore budget and claims about wide footpaths reducing space for vehicle movement have sprung up in public discourse.
On a rainy September afternoon, two colleagues at ITDP India, Tejesvini and Rutuja, set out to unpack the curious situation of Harit Setu: a people-centric streets project that has left some local residents with more questions than answers.
Tejesvini (TJ): Why was this streets project not welcomed by a few? And what can other Indian cities learn from this as they pursue similar efforts?
Rutuja (RN): Okay…these are loaded questions! Let’s start with the first one.
It is understandably difficult for some people, who might have used these streets in a certain way for decades, to adapt to this change. But have you noticed that three concerns seem to come up repeatedly in every Harit Setu discussion? Some say that footpaths are unnecessarily wide and have taken away road space, some claim that parking has been sacrificed, and many call this just an expensive beautification project.
TJ: Yes, I’ve noticed it too, and I kind of get where they are coming from! At the outset, this project can seem like only a cosmetic exercise with improved streetlights, street furniture, and wide footpaths. But there is more to the picture than this, no?
RN: Exactly, there is! Every street element has a purpose, and we have the data to back this up. I’ll take you through them one by one.
TJ: Okay, let’s start with the one criticism that seems to come up the most often.
Claim 1. “The carriageway has become narrower because of wide footpaths”
RN: Yeah, this is an interesting one. If you look at the street conditions before and after the transformations, the whole story changes. Take Babasaheb Ambedkar Road for instance. Earlier, there were stretches of the road with no continuous footpaths. Other stretches were partially occupied by food vendors. Pedestrians had no choice but to walk on the road instead, dodging vehicles going at 50 kmph speeds. Commuters going to Akurdi Railway Station had a really tough time!
TJ: So, what are you suggesting?
RN: Before the intervention, haphazard parking, unorganised vending, and pedestrians walking on the carriageway occupied a significant portion of the street edge, reducing the effective carriageway for moving traffic by 43%.
But after the space re-organisation under Harit Setu, around 13% of the carriageway was reclaimed for moving traffic. By fixing the footpath and creating dedicated cycle tracks, pedestrians and cyclists got their dedicated space, and vehicles got theirs. Pedestrians, in particular, got safe, continuous walking spaces with streetlights, and seating areas. The city officials also noted that the usable carriageway has also increased on some streets.
TJ: I guess that’s a nuance that gets lost in public discussions.
RN: The reality is that the project improved the overall efficiency of the street by designating street space for every street user group, making the streets safer and more accessible for everyone
TJ: Also, when upto 50% of Pimpri Chinchwad’s residents still depend on walking and cycling, it makes complete sense to me that the project prioritises pedestrians over vehicles. In fact, I heard that the project is designed around the idea that once a neighbourhood has a walkable, easy-to-use, and shaded network of footpaths, people will not need to use personal vehicles anymore for short local trips within the neighbourhood. Instead, they can just walk down to their local barber, grocery store, or park!
RN: That is correct! Which also brings us to the next problem at hand.
Claim 2. “Parking has reduced”
TJ: I heard this is the issue that is raised the most. And I can relate to their pain, because how can a home built in the 80s suddenly be expected to have its own parking lot? So where are all these vehicles supposed to go?
RN: Like I said before, these private residential vehicles had encroached a lot of space on the streets earlier, forcing people to walk on the road.
Harit Setu isn’t removing parking entirely; rather, it manages it more efficiently. Haphazard, perpendicular, and double parking becomes organised, parallel parking. This way, road space is better utilised, and the safety of the street improves drastically. And wherever possible, the city is also looking at building parking areas off the street. So, the conversation is less about losing parking and more about managing it efficiently.
TJ: I’ve also heard about these bulb-outs along the footpath edges. Some residents feel they’re just taking away parking spaces.
RN: Oh yes, the bulbouts – those 2-metre-wide green buffers you see along the footpath in the multi-utility zone. At first glance, they might look like one lost parking spot, but they are designed to improve the overall street functioning. These buffers accommodate essential street furniture like signage, streetlights, utility boxes, and trees without obstructing pedestrian movement. More importantly, they also provide the necessary clearance near property entrances, making it easier for vehicles to turn in and out safely without hitting parked vehicles. At the same time, they prevent parked vehicles from spilling onto the carriageway, helping traffic move smoothly.
TJ: There’s also a larger question here about how our public space should be utilised. And I recall this line from one of our older ITDP publications: “Parking is a commodity, not a right.”
RN: That statement is a great reminder that parking comes at a cost! Every parking space occupies valuable public land, so it must be managed carefully. The problem here is that only 15% of the city’s households own personal vehicles, yet a significant share of our street space is being occupied by this vehicle-owning minority.
To address the growing demand for on street parking, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is in the process of adopting a new, comprehensive Parking Policy which will help ensure that parking is managed better within the city. The policy focuses on managing parking in the city more efficiently by organising on-street parking, creating off-street alternatives where feasible, and ensuring that our limited road space is shared more fairly between all user groups.
TJ: Parking management is a difficult but necessary conversation that many Indian cities are now having to confront.
Speaking of difficult conversations, another point of contention about Harit Setu was its Rs 200-crore budget. People have been asking why so much money was spent on what they perceive as a mere beautification project.
RN: I understand the public sentiment that a cost as high as ₹200 crores seems unjustifiable at first, so let me break it down.
Claim 3. “The project is an expensive beautification exercise”
RN: While the most visible changes on the street are its street furniture, and paving, there is more to the picture than just beautification.
TJ: Yes, like the creation of:
- Accessible footpaths,
- Reorganisation and addition of new underground utilities including water supply, sewerage, stormwater drainage, gas, electrical, telecom, optical fibre, street lighting, irrigation and CCTV infrastructure,
- Use of high-quality and long-lasting materials such as precast kerb blocks,
- Installation of pedestrian lights to make streets safe and functional for children and elderly alike.
As a brownfield project, utilities are a major component, accounting for nearly 28% of the total project cost. I heard that existing utility networks are being reorganised, relocated, and upgraded as part of the street redevelopment, with provisions made to meet the city’s projected requirements for the next 20 years. So, the budget clearly goes towards more than aesthetics!
RN: Exactly. Creating a high-standard, pedestrian-friendly street in India would cost roughly ₹10 crore per kilometre. This is proven by street design projects across the country, such as Linear Garden Street PCMC (₹29 Cr), Smart Janpath Street Bhubaneswar (₹80 Cr), Wardha Road Nagpur (₹57 Cr), and Ernakulam Smart Streets (₹52 Cr).
So, when you multiply that 10-crore figure by the 21 kilometres being developed under Harit Setu’s pilot in Pradhikaran, the ₹200 crore budget starts to make a lot of sense.
When cities prioritise vehicle-centric projects, which they often do, more traffic gets created, and along with it, an endless demand for more flyovers and wider roads. But well-designed footpaths are great investments that actually future-proof our cities by reducing congestion.
TJ: Well then, I think we have our verdict! Harit Setu is a clear investment in a safer and more resilient city, rather than just a beautification project. And evidently, this project reflects the larger vision that PCMC is building towards. Its work on Harit Setu has won the Bloomberg initiative for cycling infrastructure global challenge in 2023, and the Urban Mobility India award for City with the Most Innovative Financing Mechanism in 2025. I hope this project is explained to citizens as carefully as it has been designed.
RN: I agree, and that’s something PCMC has been working on. They have responded to these concerns by conducting 30+ consultations with different user groups on the significance and vision of this project. Citizen groups, stakeholders, elected representatives, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), political leaders, and the media have been engaged.
TJ: That’s nice to know. Perhaps the silver lining here is that Harit Setu has created a learning opportunity for not just PCMC, but also other Indian cities trying to follow suit. Which brings me back to my other question…
What can Indian cities learn from Harit Setu?
RN: The most important step would be to engage citizens and stakeholders early and throughout the process. Without clear communication on urban projects, misinformation spreads quickly. This can be done through citizen forums, one-on-one meetings, workshops, media outreach, awareness drives to curb encroachment on footpaths, and hosting public events such as Vehicle-Free Days. Complementary measures, such as behaviour change campaigns to nudge good parking behaviours, can shift public perception towards street space, and encourage people to use streets equitably and efficiently.
TJ: There’s a clear lesson here for us all – the success of a street transformation project is also based on how well the project is understood and accepted by citizens, rather than just the kilometres completed or the crores spent.
RN: Yes! And successful urban transformations happen, not when cities build for people, but when they build with people.
Authored by Tejesvini Saranga Ravi, with technical inputs from Rutuja Nivate
Project team: Pranjal Kulkarni
Edited by: Donita Jose
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Harit Setu project in Pimpri
–Chinchwad? Harit Setu is Pimpri Chinchwad’s neighbourhood level NMT street transformation project, based on the 15 minute city concept. Unlike conventional street projects, it focuses on creating a connected citywide network of streets with dedicated spaces for different users, encouraging walking and cycling while reducing dependence on motorised transport, one neighbourhood at a time. - How does the Harit Setu project improve walking, cycling, and street safety in Pimpri
–Chinchwad? Harit Setu improves walking, cycling, and street safety by providing safer, continuous, and accessible, spaces for pedestrians and other street users. Before the intervention, pedestrians often had to walk on the carriageway because of discontinuous footpaths, parked cars, and vendors. But under Harit Setu, street space is reorganized to give each street user their own designated space. It also encourages people to walk and cycle more as it focusses on not one or two streets, but a network of interconnected streets so people can walk and cycle, freely to their local destinations. - How much does the Harit Setu project cost, and what is the money used for? The Harit Setu project is funded through a ₹200 crore municipal green bond. The budget covers accessible footpaths, reorganising of underground street utilities, improved streetlights, street furniture, paving, and other infrastructure required to create safer streets for citizens of Pimpri
–Chinchwad.