AVINASH TAVARES
avinash@herald-goa.com
margao: Construction in Goa has slowed down considerably with some real estate firms virtually bringing their construction to a standstill for the next two months. Herald contacted several builders and contractors revealed some startling facts.
While the High Court has Government has banned the extraction of sand in the State, the Government has also banned sand imports from other States. This, the builders say, is done by the government to create an artificial shortage of sand in the State.
But why would the Government want to trigger this shortage? Sources say that this year the government had permitted the import of sand from Malaysia by an infrastructure company which is linked to the son of a powerful Goan politician. The imported sand is currently stacked in the Meta Strips premises in Verna.
“The sand which was imported was used in infrastructure projects. But the Biana flyover, which is still under construction, developed a crack so they stopped using it for infrastructure projects. The builders also realised that the cement is not curing and is not absorbing water. This is because the sand has large granular size. Only small builders use it for minor construction such as constructing compound walls.”, said a contractor based in Salcete.
Another builder said Malaysian sand costs around Rs 3000 to 4000 per cubic meter (Rs 30000 per truck) which is higher than the price of the sand imported from other States. “Because the Malaysian sand is not selling the government has purposely not lifted the ban on sand. The Court hearings are not happening fast because the government lawyers are not giving proper reports. Every hearing in the court is scheduled after a gap of around 2 months. Two weeks ago the sand suppliers also met the TCP minister ”, said the builder from Margao.
Another builder from Vasco informed that some builders use morass (khadi sand or mason sand) cannot be used for plastering since it cannot give fishing. There is only one major supplier of morass. “Morass can’t be used for plastering since it does not give finishing like normal sand.”, said a builder. However, other builders claim that morass is also not suitable for concreting (slabs, beams etc). The quality is very poor. We brought two loads of Malaysian sand but the cement was not curing.”, said another builder from Margao.
The builders hope that by January, the government will lift the ban on sand imports or the courts may permit sand extraction since the current volatility over sand availability and price, along with RERA regulations, has added a huge financial burden on their ongoing projects.
