CALANGUTE: The Candolim ‘Mangrove Walk’, the first phase of which had been initiated nearly six years ago, is now expected to be completed by the end of May next year, according to Water Resources Department (WRD) officials.
The ‘Mangrove Walk’, alongside the Nerul-Sinquerim River, is being developed at a cost of around Rs 9.5 crore. Once ready, it will be an added attraction for tourists visiting the coastal belt.
The six metre-wide walkway with a small garden next to the Nerul bridge will have stalls, four fishing spots for anglers and boating facilities for tourists, and is being developed as a nature walk through the mangroves where visitors can come for bird-watching, crocodile spotting, walks, picnics and other outdoor activities.
There will be around 10 stalls for locals to sell homemade items such as bebinca, handicrafts, cashew nuts and other Goan stuff.
The walkway is being developed on top of a reconstructed ‘bundh’ which had collapsed many years ago on the Candolim side of the Nerul River. In the first phase, the WRD reconstructed the ‘bundh’ for a stretch of nearly two kms by building retaining walls and the walkway is being developed in the space in between.
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo along with Candolim panchayat members held a site inspection of the project on Thursday.
Lobo said Candolim, which is already well-known as a beach destination, will also in future be known as a backwaters destination.
Candolim Sarpanch Fermino Fernandes said that the mangrove walk will be an additional facility for tourists visiting Candolim. He said the old ‘bundh’ had collapsed in 1986, following which saline water entered the agricultural fields in the area.
“Because of that, farmers could not cultivate their fields, affecting their livelihoods,” he said, adding that there was a long-pending demand to repair the ‘bundh’.
