Team Herald

MARGAO: The Shadow Council for Margao has demanded an apology from the Margao Municipal Council for its failure to commence work on the multilevel parking building at Margao even three years after the foundation stone was laid.

Pointing out that MMC Chairperson Dr Babita Prabhudessai always complains about inheriting problems, Shadow Council for Margao Convener Savio Coutinho wondered why she could not even commence the work on the much awaited multilevel parking project.

“The Margao Municipal Council has totally failed, as there is no significant development in Margao since it took over; it is only in the news for scams in the council,” he said.

Savio cautioned that he would be monitoring the progress on this project and warned against any backdoor compromise specially over escalation of estimated cost.

The foundation stone for the multilevel parking lot was laid on September 15, 2015 in the Municipal land that was earlier used as a retail fish market and the work was allotted to one builder from Sangli. However, before the work could commence, Goods and Service Tax was introduced and therein lay the problem.

The concerned file then kept moving between the council and the PWD to fix up the GST and finally the council had decided to cancel the order and call for fresh tenders. In fact, a meeting to do this was called on 13th August which did not take place for lack of quorum.

Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardessai visited MMC on 4th September where the issue came up and he called up the contractor and a meeting was fixed on September 6 to thrash out the problems.

At the MMC meeting on 8th September Dr Babita informed the council that the contractor has agreed to take up the work as soon as the formalities are completed and the parking lot is targeted to be ready for inauguration on Goa Statehood Day which is May 30.