PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar, St Andre MLA Francis Silveira and other officials during a joint site inspection of the new Zuari bridge on Wednesday.
VASCO
PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar on Wednesday said one four-lane road of the new Zuari Bridge would be open to public by April 2021, while the entire project of the eight-lane bridge would be completed by December 2021 after which both four lanes on either side would be opened to public.
Pauskar was speaking to reporters after he along with St Andre MLA Francis Silveira, PWD Principal Chief Engineer Uttam Parsekar, Dilip Buildcon Vice President (Structures) Atul Joshi and other officials carried out a joint site inspection of works at the new Zuari Bridge.
“The new Zuari Bridge is being worked on three packages. We hold a meeting to review these works every month.”
“Nearly 65% work on Package 1 between GMC and Agassaim has been completed. We are yet to pay a few people for their land in this stretch and we will settle the money within the next 15 days.”
“About 72% work on Package 2, the main new Zuari Bridge, has been completed and 92% work on Package 3 between Cortalim and Verna has been completed," Said Pauskar.
“One four-lane road of the bridge can be open to public by April 30, 2021, while the entire project of the eight-lane bridge will be completed by December 2021, after which both four lanes on either side of the bridge will be open to public.”
The PWD minister said the Service Road which had been damaged would be repaired with a concrete layer, while the entire stretch of the Service Road would be ready by the first week of December.
"We also considered some issues of St Andre MLA Francis Silveira for traffic signals at Goa Velha and two cattle underpass crossings, while Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha had requested that the heightened drainage be reduced to enable people to move to and from their houses," said Pauskar.
Pauskar, however, did not offer clarity on whether two-wheelers would be allowed on the new Zuari Bridge, as had been the case at the Atal Setu.
"This main Zuari bridge will be a cable-stayed bridge and will be decorated with great lighting. There is also a provision to have view towers with restaurants, which can be developed for tourism in the future. We can stress on that after the entire bridge is completed.”
“The cost to build these towers owuld b eabout Rs 250 crore, which can be taken up from tourism department funds," said Pauskar.
Speaking to reporters, St Andre MLA Francis Silveira said many people had been inconvenienced because of potholes along the road at some stretch between the Agassaim police station and the bypass junction.
"We will get the entire Service Road repaired and concretised. We have requested a cattle underpass of 6 mtrs, but the DBL made the cattle underpass of only 3 mtrs. After we had a meeting, the DBL has assured to get this cattle underpass of 6 mtrs.”
“We have also requested access for people from both sides and we will provide a Service Road to people. After our request, we have been assured of a 5-mtre Service Road for the people. Work on roads in our constituency have been tendered and we will soon get approvals and get the roads done in the entire constituency," Said Silveira.
