Corporation has only five months of five-year term remaining
PANAJI
Mayor Rohit Monserrate-led Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has all but given up on its ambitious project of a new administrative building by demolishing the current one with just five months of its five-year term remaining.
More than two years have gone by since Chief Minister Pramod Sawant laid the foundation stone for the project and the capital city's civic body has not heard a word from the State government on its formal request to allocate it space to shift its day-to-day functioning so the present CCP building can be demolished and construction started.
The government had earlier rejected its request to allocate it the old PWD building at Patto which is now occupied by the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL).
Another request to allocate the entire ground-plus-one building which formerly housed the Commercial Taxes department on the MG Road also did not find favour with the State government.
CCP Commissioner, Clen Madeira said the government had initially proposed the ground floor of the Commercial Taxes department building which in the past housed the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court in the 1990s.
"Only the ground floor is insufficient for us," Madeira said, adding that it is unlikely that a space will be allocated very soon since the State government itself is looking for space for several of its department's offices in the city with the decision to evacuate and demolish the 'unsafe' Junta House.
The CCP's new headquarters project involves demolishing the current building and constructing a modern edifice which will have a 'town hall', commercial spaces, adequate parking facilities and sundry other facilities.
The current term of the Monserrate-led CCP ends in mid-March next year and the civic body has seemingly given up on its plan to construct the new headquarters, a project which it had give wide publicity at the time of laying the foundation stone.
Meanwhile, the CCP is yet to finalise the contract for the demolition of the old market building it had evacuated and sealed. Sources said the process initiated by floating the Request for Proposal (RFP) tender seeking bids from firms to bring down the dilapidated edifice is yet to be finalised.
The civic body has also not begun any work on the third phase of the CCP Market complex which will now be pushed onto the next elected body, the officials said.
