TEAM HERALD
The government may deny it is facing a resource crunch, but evidence proves otherwise. Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) is facing a tough task in completing projects precisely because it is short of resources.
Take for instance the concretization of the Miramar-Dona Paula road and the Dona Paula jetty project.
Because of outstandings amounting to almost Rs 40 crore to be paid to contractors, the work is being carried out in phases with the Raj Bhavan segment of the project to be completed first, followed by the jetty and finally the Miramar–Dona Paula road concretization.
GSIDC Managing Director Sanjit Rodrigues denies that work at the jetty and the concrete three lane road from Miramar to Dona Paula has come to a halt, but admits that the Raj Bhavan road will be completed first. “The work has not stopped,” he told Herald. “It is going on every day. You can verify it for yourself.”
The ongoing works have inconvenienced people living in areas from NIO Circle, Dona Paula to Raj Bhavan. The road was dug up over six months ago for the ambitious concretization of the western track of the Miramar-Dona Paula road as well as the stretch from the NIO circle to the Dona Paula jetty. The road still remains incomplete, causing inconvenience to local motorists and to visiting tourists.
Sources say that the Miramar segment of the project is likely to be delayed more than the rest of the project as despite denials from officials; the reality is that the government does not have the money to pay the contractors.
The idea that motivated the project was to organize the services so that there will be no more digging of roads. Any repairs would involve removing the pavers on the footpath and then putting them back on. That nobody should dig the road for the next 50 years, was the logic of doing these roads. GSIDC officials had said that the concretizing the excavated portions of the roads would be completed by December 2014. The total cost of the project is Rs 70 crore.
