PANJIM: Stung by criticism for delay in construction of Porvorim Market complex, Housing Minister Jayesh Palyekar on Monday said the Goa Housing Board has given September end as the deadline for the completion of the project failing which contractor will be penalised.
“I think the contractor is totally dependent on the release of government. He does not have capacity to complete works on his own. In future we will check the eligibility of contractor before allotting the tender,” said Salgaocar speaking to reporters.
Salgaocar said that he had warned the contractor soon after he took over the charge of Goa Housing Board.
“I had visited the complex along with Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte and told him about completing the project immediately,” he said.
The minister said that he is seized of the hardships faced by locals and the shopkeepers at Old Porvorim Market and as such he wants to shift them to new premises at the earliest.
“Now we have called the contractor and told him he has to complete the project by September end else he would be penalised Rs 15,000 per day for the delay,” Salgaocar said.
Salgaocar said such a provision is there in the Goa Housing Board Act.
“Otherwise he (the contractor) can also be blacklisted and we can hand over the project to someone else,” he stated.
Five years after a detailed lay out plan for the state-of-the-art market complex at Porvorim was prepared, the project is yet to become a reality. With the present market complex in a dilapidated condition, the government had decided to create the infrastructure dedicating some space for old shops while the remaining would be sold to general public for setting up new ones.
However, the project has been languishing for many years despite all strategies in place. As per the plan, the new market complex project, estimated at Rs 15 crore would have two separate buildings in an area of 6,007 sq mts and the total floor area of the building will be 5,974 sq mts.
In the first building, there will be 36 shops on the ground floor, 42 shops on the mezzanine floor, 16 shops and 14 offices on the first floor and four offices and a restaurant on the second floor. In the second building, ground floor was reserved for stilt parking, nine offices on the upper ground floor, conference and community hall on the first floor and marriage hall with a seating capacity of 610 people on the second floor.
