The work on the Link (Service) road from Sai Service to District Institute of Education and Training, for which the foundation stone was laid by then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, on February 25, 2013, with much fanfare, has come to a grinding halt due to financial crunch.
At the time of laying the foundation stone for the 1 ½ km Link Road costing Rs 2.7 crore, Parrikar had assured that this link road will be completed in six months. Though the work of the third bridge over Mandovi River has already commenced, the work of the service road is still hanging in the balance.
Although the work of link (service) road has not been completed fully, vehicles have already started plying on this road. However, the electricity department has still not removed the electric poles on this stretch. Since this road has not been illuminated as yet, these electrical poles are not visible especially at night and hence there are chances of fatal accidents occurring on this uncomissioned road. Further, as there are no speed breakers on this road especially near Sanjay School and at the entrance of Housing Board colony there is often collision between the vehicles plying on the service road and the vehicles entering housing board and Pundalik nagar from National highway17. This road has now become accident prone area due to absence of speed breakers and street lights.
When contacted Assistant Engineer of Porvorim Power sub station Anil Kumar stated that the work of laying underground the 11 KV electric cable from power sub station to Goa Assembly complex is the responsibility of the Goa State Infrastructure development corporation. They have completed the ducting work and as soon as the work of laying electric cables is completed by them electric poles will be shifted, Kumar said.
While speaking to Herald Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte stated that there has been considerable delay in the completion of the service road. It is more than two years now that the project of the service road is going on. After its completion the government should have taken up the work of the construction of the third bridge over Mandovi River. There is absolutely no traffic management. This Service Road project includes the construction of footpaths of 2½ meters width on both sides, costing an additional Rs 3 crore and the entire road is supposed to be illuminated.
The work of laying electrical cables, erection of electric poles along the service road, construction of footpaths and hot mixing of this road remains to be completed. It appears that this work will not be completed before the onset of the monsoon. The work order for the hot mixing of service road has been issued, but the work has not been started as yet. Similarly, work of laying of the underground cable has not begun. During peak hours when traffic jam occurs on the national highway, vehicles proceeding towards Panjim from Mapusa immediately use this service road. There is urgent need for completion of the service road for better traffic management. If the pending work of the service road is not completed, soon the resident of Porvorim will be forced to a launch agitation, the independent MLA Khaunte said.
