the goan I network
Panaji
The last floor deck of the much-awaited third Mandovi bridge was lifted on Wednesday, amidst much ceremony.
Besides the chairpeople of the Goa State Infrastructural Development Corporation Limited (GSIDC), other officials, construction workers and Larson and Toubro’s engineers and staff were present.
Informing media persons present that 91% of the work on the bridge was complete, GSIDC Chairman and legislator Deepak Pauskar maintained that the bridge would be ready by the last week of December, a deadline earlier stated by the Chief Minister during the Monsoon Session of the Assembly.
Pauskar also said that 82% of the bridge was already paid for. “Of the Rs 486 crore the state was supposed to pay towards the bridge, we have already paid Rs 423 crore,” said Pauskar. This is just 50% of the cost of the bridge, with remaining funds coming in from the Centre.
GSIDC Vice-Chairman Sidharth Kuncalienkar, who was also present, stated that remaining work on the bridge was expected to go smoothly from this point. “We’ve reached the countdown stage for the completion of the project,” he said.
Kuncalienkar also opined that the progress of Goa was linked to projects like this, as well as other roadworks undertaken by the PWD. “Once all the works are complete, Goa will have safe and good roads to travel from Mapusa to Margao, Pernem to Vasco, Ponda to Panjim, and people will also save time while traveling,” said Kuncalienkar. Hot-mixing of the road on the bridge will start most likely from November-end and will go on till first week of December.
Construction of the bridge, which was started in June 2014, was initially expected to be completed by April 2017. This deadline was then postponed to December 2017. When the bridge was still not ready, a new deadline of May 2018 was then set, and the current deadline stands at December 2018.
The 4.2 kilometre bridge, stands in the middle of the two existing bridges that link Porvorim and Panaji.
