Blurb:
Since NH17 is a major route, diversion of traffic will have to planned in advance and implemented with a high degree of professionalism in order to reduce inconvenience
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What Goa had asked for was a bridge across the Zuari river. What it got instead is a gargantuan infrastructure project that will start at the Bambolim plateau and end at the Verna plateau. The 14-km long project will comprise roads, flyovers or elevated roads and a bridge and will cost Rs 2,757 crore, which is almost equal to the cost of the Mopa airport. The eight-lane bridge alone will cost Rs 880 crore, twice that of the bridge across the Mandovi river, and one wonders if the figures quoted are real or imaginary. Finance for the bridge, which will be borne by the Centre, was cleared by the Expenditure Finance Committee on August 21 and the green signal for the rest of the project is expected in the first week of September. The bridge alone will take three years to build and the time for the rest of the project has not been specified.
The cost of the entire project is huge by any standard, but since the financial burden is to be borne by the Centre, there is no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth. Expansion of NH17 from Panaji to Margao has been undertaken in bits and pieces and crucial elements to create one smooth four-lane road linking these two cities are yet to be put in place. Traffic along this route has been increasing by the day and with the vehicle population now crossing the 10 lakh mark, the choice before the government is to either ban vehicles, which would be politically damaging, or improve and expand infrastructure. The Regional Plan 2021 also took note of congestion along the highway and as a solution, proposed a corridor along the interiors linking industrial hubs. The idea was to divert traffic and business. The regional plan is still a work in progress and the corridor might never see the light of day, but the fact that planners were concerned about over-development in coastal talukas came through in RP 2021.
No one in their right mind would think that a project as large as this would be accepted without a murmur. As always, there will be opposition. A sum of Rs 264 crore has been kept aside for acquisition of 1.29 lakh sq mts of land and rehabilitation of displaced families, both touchy issues. The alignment has already been prepared, what is not known at this point is the dislocation of people and traffic. Any new projects comes with inconvenience to the travelling public, at least during the initial years. It is the hope of building something better that gives people the forbearance, but since NH17 is a major route, diversion of traffic will have to planned in advance and implemented with a high degree of professionalism in order to reduce inconvenience. Also, an infusion of Rs 2,757 crore into building activity will spur in-migration of a very large workforce, for which housing and sanitation arrangements will have to be planned, again in advance. Without proper man management protests will grow larger and the voices against the project will become louder. A project of this magnitude needs to be micro-managed by the government, especially because it is being planned in an already congested area.
