MARGAO: Having convened a series of meeting after getting elected, newly-elected Margao Municipal Council (MMC) chairperson Arthur D’Silva hopes to fast track all development and infrastructure related projects in Margao before the council tenure comes to an end.
Choosing to look forward and focus on the development of Margao in the next four months, D’Silva brushed aside the argument with Chief Officer Naveen SL on the first day as a misunderstanding.
“It is my dream to work with an officer of such ranking as Goa doesn’t have many of these and I want to work with him as we have a lot do with little time for Margao,” D’Silva said.
D’Silva called on the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to work towards setting up an IAS cadre training institute in Goa for Goans.
“Goa does not have IAS officers and if the government sets up a training centre then one day we may have Goan IAS officers who understand Goa and Goans better,” D’Silva added.
On Friday, D’Silva has convened a meeting with JICA officials to get an update on the condition of the roads in the jurisdiction of the municipality that have been dug up for sewerage works and are causing hardships to the locals.
He also pointed out that it was during his earlier tenure that he had painted the MMC building and that the building was in bad shape and that work in that direction had begun. “Pre-monsoon works are the top priority,” said D’Silva.
On big projects, D’Silva hopes to expedite the process of getting Margao its first multi pay parking project and following up with Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSIDCA) about the same.
“I have also convened a meeting to elect the market committee as we need to look at having a better market. Last time I took care of encroachments and we have to look at repair works as well,” D’Silva added.
He also pointed out that he had appealed to the State government and Parrikar to come up with a city development plan for the next 25 years on the lines of the proposal to develop Panjim.
D’Silva also said that in his previous tenure he had pushed the proposal of a skywalk or a pedestrian subway from the Caro Corner end to the old bus stand to make the town’s roads less perilous for pedestrians.
The proposal is lying with the South Goa district administration and D’Silva is promoting the idea of having a state-of-the-art skywalk system with moving walkways connecting the KTC bus stand to the municipality square, a distance of almost two km. MMC has sent a proposal to the district collector to obtain his in-principle nod to the skywalk being constructed through the MPLAD scheme.
“I will take stock of all the big projects and there is little time but if we work together I am sure we can get the work done,” said D’Silva.
MMC has also forwarded a proposal to the government to set up a parking facility-cum-convention centre at the old fish market site. The concept envisages having parking facilities on the lower floors and a community hall or convention centre equipped with all allied facilities.
