PANAJI
After over three years and a protracted PIL in the Bombay High Court at Goa during which judges walked through the streets to personally inspect the work, Panaji city will be free of the constant road digging and traffic chaos and its residents will hopefully breathe dust-free, cleaner air with authorities announcing on Tuesday the completion all the major infrastructure work under the smart city mission.
Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) managing director and CEO Sanjit Rodrigues, IAS, said, that major work on all roads in Panaji and also the sewerage works had been completed, adhering to the timeline in the affidavit which was accepted by the court.
Except for minor finishing work which is underway but will not affect the movement of traffic, Rodrigues said all other major work was completed ahead of the March 31 deadline.
I can say, 90% of the work is completed," he said, adding that all road work is completed as per the deadlines mentioned in the affidavit submitted to the High Court.
He said, bituminous concrete laying, road painting, traffic signage installation, and rectification of settlements which is expected to happen due to the deep digging for the sewerage work, will be completed by May 31.
Other landscaping work, including tree plantation will be finished by June 30, he added.
"As of April 1, there is no road closure, barricading, open trenching or digging in Central Panaji under the Smart City mission," Rodrigues said.
Cafe Bhosale Square
Rodrigues said, except for a small portion of a side road at the Cafe Bhosale square taken up for concreting, all work is completed and the area opened to traffic.
He said this small portion of a side road is currently undergoing 'curing' and will be thrown open in a day or two.
He acknowledged that the last stretch of the sewerage work from the Tadmad temple to the STP at Tonca near Caculo Mall is incomplete due to complexities which required going down to a 12-meter depth underground.
More time will be required to finish this approximately 200 meter stretch after which the road will be concretised, he said.
Ribandar jetty
The jetty work at Ribandar which had to be built for use of Ro-Ro ferries, is also completed and it will be handed over to the River Navigation Department in the next few days.
Rodrigues said, that it is for the RND to take a call on when to start operations of the Ro-Ro ferries at this jetty.
"They may have to conduct a few trial runs before operations start," he added.
