State’s highway project in peril?
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: In an unprecedented development, the National Highway Authority of India has withdrawn the letter of acceptance (LoA) for redoing the highways connecting Panjim with Karnataka and Maharashtra. The information given to the Lok Sabha on Monday has created a flutter, raising doubt over the fate of Goa’s ambitious plans for widening its National highways, including the Rs 1000 crore new bridge over River Zuari.
Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Sarvey Sathyanarayana, gave this information in a written reply in the Parliament, but PWD Minister Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavalikar rubbished the news as outdated.
“This information dates back prior to 2012 and has no relevance as of today,” Dhavalikar told HERALD.
He added: “In fact we have already sent the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the central ministry and we are expecting them to get back to us on the matter after the central law ministry vets it.”
Dhavalikar said that there is no substance in the Lok Sabha reply on Monday given by union minister.
Sathyanarayana, Monday, said in his reply that the LoA was withdrawn “due to land acquisition problems in case of Goa/Karnataka border to Panjim in the State of Goa; Maharashtra/Goa border – Panjim-Goa/Karnataka border in the State of Goa and Cherthalai to Ochira in the State of Kerala stretches.”
The PWD minister said that due to the long Budget session here in Goa, he was not able to seek an appointment with the central ministry to get the mega Zuari bridge-cum-national highway expansion plans expedited.
Goa could be in for a rude shock if the reply furnished in the Lok Sabha is factually correct. Interestingly, neither of the two Goan MPs ~ Francisco Sardinha and Shripad Naik nor Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik could throw light on this news.
During the last one year, Goa government has been walking a tight rope over the existing Zuari bridge.
“Increasing delays of starting work on the new bridge will only reduce further the life span of the existing bridge which is a vital link between the North and South of Goa,” said an official in the PWD department.
Knowing this fact, Goa government had decided to proceed with the project groundwork even as the central ministry has not given its final consent over financial cost-sharing for the project.
It is proposed to have a cable-stayed bridge of 1.2 kms over the river Zuari. While the initial cost, if the work was taken up in 2005, would have been around Rs 250 crore, the present estimate is over Rs 1000 crore for the bridge and widening of NH-4 and NH-17.
