The ambitious four-laning of the Panjim-Old Goa bypass corridor project is yet to be completed due to pending work of construction of flyover on the road near Chimbel-Ribandar junction.
The work of the said construction of the flyover is pending and at a halt for many days.
Officials of Venkatrao Infrastructure Limited informed Herald that the said work is pending due to the land acquisition which is pending for the last two years. The officer has also said that the main electric cables from Kadamba plateau to EDC Patto Plaza also has to be relocated and reason why the construction of flyover is pending.
In April 2015, PWD Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar had assured on the floor of the state legislative assembly that work on the model corridor would be completed in May 2016 which also includes the construction of flyover at Chimbel-Ribandar junction.
The delay is almost 11 months for the completion of the entire project. PWD Minister Dhavalikar was not available for comments.
With the new smooth and straight road from Old Goa to Panjim most of the vehicular traffic has been diverted from this route. Earlier the traffic used to take the old Ribandar Patto causeway to reach Panjim.
However, the Chimbel-Ribandar junction has now become a major accident prone zone. It is at this junction a bottleneck is being witnessed every day.
“It is a very scary situation at the junction, the speeding vehicles which are coming from Kadamba plateau have to suddenly apply breaks. The problem is with the drivers of the heavy vehicles which face a tough time to control their vehicles at this junction,” said Sudip Tamankar, a local activist.
Another resident from Chimbel Sandesh Naik said that many a time during night the vehicles are seen going off road after losing the control at the junction.
The project was divided into two phases four laning with one reserved lane for two-wheelers from Panjim to Old Goa which was supposed to be completed by March 2016. The second phase, which includes the construction of a flyover on the road near Chimbel, was supposed to be completed by May 2016.
Only three pillars have been erected so far by the contractor at the construction site. The actual work construction of pillars for the flyover commenced a year back.
