Bastora fly over project, delayed by 10 months, is likely to be completed by March 2018.

The six-lane Bastora Flyover project was scheduled to complete in May 2017 but due to technical issues the project work has reportedly been delayed by 10 months.

According to PWD sources the two major hurdles which caused the delay is shifting of cable feeding power to Porvorim and Calangute which was located exactly at the main area of the flyover. Shifting of this power cable took almost one year.

The other issue was the water pipeline which is feeding Moira and Bastora village. Similar to the power cable, shifting this pipeline also took almost 13 months.

Sources said since these two were located exactly at the main portion where the flyover is being constructed, PWD had no other option than to first shift both to continue with the work.

Estimated to cost of Rs 29.42 crore, the project was sanctioned in the financial year 2014-15. Foundation stone for this project was laid in Febryuary 2, 2016 and the actual work of the project began in March 2016. With 450 days given for completion, it was scheduled to be ready by May 10, 2017.

Sources from PWD said that 65 per cent of the project work is already completed and 35 per cent work is remaining. Most of the major works are already in the final stage, sources said.

This Bastora Underpass/ flyover is a six-lane highway with 250 metres of road on either side. The purpose of this flyover is to provide better service to the pedestrians and for smooth movement of traffic moving on the NH 17 as well as the traffic entering and exiting the Mapusa city from the opposite side.

PWD officials said that it was difficult to control the traffic caused at this particular area at the initial stage of project but now the traffic is moving smoothly and work of the flyover is in progress. People were facing problems because of the bad service road during the monsoons but now the service roads have been repaired.

People also faced inconvenience during the shifting of cable and pipeline since during those days, water and power supply use to fluctuate most of the time but now the supply is reportedly regular.

MLA Glen Ticlo said, “The foundation stone for the flyover was laid in March 2016 and the completion date was May 2017. There is a delay of 10 months due to genuine reasons such as shifting cable and water pipeline without which the work of the flyover would not have continued. The engineer has now assured to complete the project work by March 2018”.

A local, Santosh N said, “The road is still not in good condition since there still continues movement of traffic here. Lot of air pollution is affecting people's heath.”

Amarnath Panjikar, a local said: “The highway junction flyover project is very good project which will help reduce the number of accidents and also stop the inconvenience caused to the people. It should have been completed by now.”