After a long wait the Miramar-Dona Paula road has been thrown open for
the vehicular traffic last weekend.
The project began in 2014, missed several deadlines, caused
inconvenience to the people of the locality. But now has finally seen the light
of the day.
Speaking to Herald, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation
Vice-Chairman Siddharth Kunkolienkar confirmed the road has been thrown open
for public use.
“The road has been opened for vehicular traffic on Saturday but the
formal inauguration would be done only after all the phases are completed,” he
said.
To a query, Siddharth, who also happens to be Panjim MLA, said the
debris, etc, would be cleaned up in the next few days.
“The road has just been opened as it was inconveniencing the public.
Our first job was to start traffic on that road and in the coming days we
(contractor) will clear everything,” he said.
Siddharth said that the project was delayed due to the sewage works.
“We believe in giving quality infrastructure to the people. Although it
has been delayed the issue of sewage as well as a permanent road has been
solved,” he said.
M Venkata Rao Infra Projects Pvt Ltd are the contractors for the project
and LKS Consultants have done the consultancy.
The project consists of construction of concrete road, cycle track,
walkway, landscaping for the stretches from Miramar Circle to NIO Circle and
from NIO Circle to Dona Paula Jetty and Raj Bhavan.
The project is undertaken in three phases: 1. Road from Miramar circle
to NIO circle, which will also have Cycle Lane, Sidewalk and Provision for
vehicle parking.
The second phase will be the road from NIO circle to Raj Bhavan, which
will also have a Cycle Lane and a Sidewalk while the third phase has a road
from the NIO circle to Dona Paula jetty, which too has a Sidewalk.
While concretisation of road on all three phases has been completed it
is only the beautification and other works remaining which should be completed
soon, said GSIDC officials.
The road’s concretisation has been embroiled in controversy since being
haphazardly tendered by GSIDC despite opposition from the then ruling panel of
the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP). A Public Interest Litigation had
also been filed by Advocate Aires Rodrigues and digging was stopped on
directions from the High Court.
Panjim Mayor Surendra Furtado demanded that a thorough investigation be
conducted into the tendering and quality of the work as the cracks are a sign
of poor quality work.
Advocate Aires Rodrigues, who has been following the matter, said,
“Louis Berger case is nothing compared to the Miramar-Dona Paula road
concretisation fraud, which has been the biggest scandal by the Manohar
Parrikar government in taking the people of Panjim for a ride by excavating a
newly tarred road.”
