Cable-ridden subway puts a spoke on driveway plan

New Lusofonia Games traffic arrangement to cost Rs 12 crore
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The project to convert the Rs 8 crore Bambolim pedestrian subway into a vehicular driveway  for the Lusofonia Games is caught in a web of cables that  is likely to delay  its completion and along with it, the implementation of the new  traffic  plan.
The subway that was constructed by the erstwhile Congress government was intended to generate income from shops but lay unused for many years, slowly degenerating and becoming a refuge for homeless and anti-social elements. Commuters instead prefer crossing the highway by dangerously running through the speeding traffic at times risking their lives.
Now, the new plan — without taking into account this new problem — of converting the same into a   driveway  would  cost  around   Rs  12  crore  more.
Reports  suggest  that  during  excavations  at the  site    huge  cables   laid  by   telecom, electricity, water  supply and  sewerage  departments  were  found   buried  underground and  the  GSIDC  seemed    clueless on  the  wires  and  pipeline  net work  buried  along  the proposed  new route  for  the extended highway.
Officials said that as work  progressed, the   machinery  at the site  struck  a  33  kv   power  supply  line,  a   water supply  pipeline and  telephone cables, disrupting   services   over the last  one month.
“The  plan  has turned  out  far  more  difficult  than  we  thought it  to  be,”  said   Sanjit  Rodrigues, managing  director  of  GSIDC here  on Wednesday.
Officials admit that now the corporation is  caught in the  nerve wracking  task  of  sorting out  the  mess  underground and possibly  channelize the  same.
“It  is getting to be a little  difficult   to   complete  the  driveway even though  we  are  trying  our  best  to   complete  the  work  before  the  games,”  said  Rodrigues  adding  that   the  driveway   was supposed to augment  infrastructure   for   the    forthcoming games  at  Bambolim even though this  plan is not  part   of the  Lusofonia  infrastructure.
The  GSIDC  also plans to  sort  out  the  underground cabling  network and  start the  exercise  of  channelizing  all  utility  service  lines  which  would  facilitate  the   overall  development plan   for  GMC and  Bambolim  in the  near  future.
The  corporation  is  proposing to  push  for  major   improvements  in the  traffic  movement at    Bambolim   considering the  fact  that   this  stretch  of  the  NH17   would   soon  be   a focal   point as this road caters to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, a dental  college,  a  stadium and  a   mega  school  complex.
The construction work for schools that are to be shifted here from the city is also underway.