PANJIM: Facing inconvenience on a daily basis due to traffic congestion in the capital city Panjim, the citizens on Monday said that a smart mobility plan is the need of the hour to get rid of the huge number of private vehicles and daily traffic congestion on the roads.
They opined that the solution to sustainability of Panjim as a city is not by building more flyovers, bridges and expanding the road networks, but to have a smart mobility plan.
“Smart City needs a smart mobility plan and what is lacking is last mile connectivity. There are now electric buses connecting the city from point to point but once you reach Kadamba bus terminus there is no transport. And people are forced to use their personal transport. This has to be solved by having e-rickshaws which we see in metro cities. They are soundless, emission less and pollution-free and they connect you to the last mile,” Environment Activist and Educator Vishal Rawlley said.
He said that the government should ensure that the city and towns in Goa including Panjim have better connectivity and environment friendly transport system in place so that people are encouraged to consider public transport.
Pointing out that the traffic has doubled in the last six months in Panjim city because of ‘unnecessary development’, well-known resident of Campal-Panjim Armando Gonsalves urged the government to consider consulting experts so as to find a permanent solution to traffic congestion.
“The government ought to take suggestions from the experts and come out with an action plan to decongest the city and implement it at the earliest,” Gonsalves said.
“The traffic in Panjim has completely gone haywire and we see a rise in the number of vehicles on roads. People are travelling to Panjim from different parts of the State with their own vehicles because we don’t have proper public transport. Increasing road infrastructure and inviting more public private cars into the city will only lead to chaos,” Goa ForGiving President Shaeen Gomes said.
It is pertinent to note that there is no headway made by the government in implementing ‘Goa State Mobility Strategy’ which was prepared by Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) through a consultant agency five years ago.
The mobility plan which was prepared in 2018 was approved by the government only in September last year as a result the implementation is way behind time.
