TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The government has cleared a proposal to bring Calangute and Candolim villages under the North Goa Planning and Development Authority. The notification to this effect is expected next week.
According to officials, the Town and Country Planning board had cleared the file and sent it to the Town and Country Planning minister for clearance.
This implies that building plans for these two villages will be passed by NGPDA instead of the all files being cleared by the TCP department, giving the government the upper hand in deciding on the development work in the two villages.
“Once this area comes under the planning and development authority, then we will have our own land acquisition officer,” Calangute MLA Michael Lobo told Herald.
After the notification, the Calangute PDA office will be in Calangute itself.
According to Lobo, the authority could help traditional occupants of houses that are in the Coastal Regulation Zone since the authority has power to relax the setbacks.
“We will identify all multilevel parking areas as in Baga and Calangute. We will widen the roads through land acquisition and build footpaths. All these works will come under the PDA. We will do all the planning by appointing a consultant,” Lobo said.
