MARGAO
Five years after work on the two-km-long Mungul-Colva road was initiated by the government, the long wait seemed far from over. In fact, all hopes that the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) will execute and complete the long-delayed two-km long Mungul-Colva road has been dashed to the ground.
For, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has issued instructions to hand over the hot-mixing of the four-lane road to the PWD for unknown reasons. Last year, the Chief Minister had favoured the execution of the completion of the two-km road by the GSIDC. In fact, the GSIDC has prepared estimates for the execution of the hot-mixing works at a cost of Rs 11 crore. With the Chief Minister now issuing directions to hand over the road work to the PWD, it’s unclear when the long-delayed project will see the light of day.
As the election code of conduct has come into force a day ago and will remain in force till May-end, the process of floating the tenders and issuing work order for shortlisting bidders may now take place only during the monsoons.
GSIDC General Manager, Jude Carvalho told The Goan on the sidelines of the function held to lay the foundation stone for the Ayush Hospital at the Monte Hill, Margao during the weekend that the GSIDC will not take up work on the road and hot-mixing works on the long-delayed four-laning project.
“The Chief Minister has put up a note stating that the PWD should take up the work on the hot-mixing work on the four-lane road. Accordingly, the PWD will have to take up the project and execute the same as per the Chief Minister’s instructions,” he said.
Incidentally, this is the second time in as many years that the government wants the hot-mixing work to be executed by the PWD. In the past, the PWD was scheduled to execute the project, before the GSIDC was roped in to complete the long-delayed work.
While the GSIDC had prepared the estimates amounting to Rs 11 crore to complete the project, sources say the PWD will have to prepare fresh estimates before the work is tendered.
Work on the four-laning of the Mungul-Colva road was taken up way back in 2014 and the work gained momentum ahead of the BRICS summit held at Benaulim in October 2016. It would be three years in October 2019 since Benaulim had played host to the BRICS summit, but the project is yet to see the light of day.
While work on the widening of the two-km-long stretch stands complete over two and half years ago, the widened portion is yet to be tarred and beautified till date, with the government undecided whether the tarring and beautification work should be taken up by the GSIDC or the PWD.
