Around 20,000 sq m of land was acquired in February 2015 for the bus terminus and is to be completed in three phases. The first phases included land acquisition, land filling and construction of retaining wall.
In the second phase, a 25-metre wide road would be constructed to link the bus stand to National Highway-17 at Mapusa-Bastora junction near the bridge. The third phase includes construction of a new bus stand building conversion of the present KTC bus stand into a parking lot for around 600 cars.
The new bus stand building will house the Regional Transport office, offices and a shopping complex.
The new bus stand is designed keeping public safety in mind, where commuters can reach their respective platforms without any risk of accidents. The bus stand will be connected to rickshaw and pilot stand with a covered roof. It will also have pedestrian friendly footpaths which will connect the market yard and Mapusa market.
The total parking capacity of the new bus stand is 1,050 two-wheelers and 850 four-wheelers.
The bus stand will have 58 bus bays and 36 idle bays. All the requirements for travelers such as toilets, canteen will be provided.
Calangute MLA and North Goa Planning Development Authority Chairman Michael Lobo said, “The project has been approved by the PDA, but the transport department has to pay Rs 3.5 crore as infrastructure development tax. There is no provision to exempt this amount even if it is a government project due to which the file is stuck. The transport department needs to do book transfer only after which exemptions order will be given. After the book transfer the work will start which requires only three working days.”
When contacted, Deputy Director of Transport Amol Gaonkar said he had joined just one month ago, as such, he is yet to update himself about the status of the project file.
Mapusa Municipal Chairperson Sandip Falari said that the municipality has no role to play in the construction of the new bus stand at Mapusa, as it “is a government project developed by transport department.”
