MARGAO
Guess when exactly will work on the long-delayed multi-level parking project kick-start and when will the ambitious project become a reality aimed at resolving the burning issue of parking plaguing the commercial capital.
Well, Madgavkars in particular and Saxttikars, in general, have only seen the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) laying the foundation stone for the ambitious project and come across a host of deadlines set for the commencement of the project as months and years have gone by since the project was taken up exactly eight years ago.
That the commercial capital, especially the heart of the city, is plagued by acute parking space, the least the citizens and the visitors had expected from the local civic body and the government in power is to show a sense of urgency to make the project a reality.
Sadly, the multi-level project has been dragging on for the last eight years since the foundation stone for the parking lot was laid in mid-September 2015.
Otherwise, consider this: Around May 2022, the MMC resolved to hand over the multi-level project to the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) after finding no takers for its tenders for the execution of the project. Take note, the MMC resolved to hand over the project to GSUDA in 2022, around seven years after the civic body had laid the foundation stone around eight years ago in September 2015.
Reason: The City Fathers deemed it proper to hand over the project to GSUDA, an agency working under the Urban Department, on the ground that it will find suitable contractors to execute the project on behalf of the MMC.
In furtherance to this resolution, the civic body even transferred funds of around Rs five crore to GSUDA with the hope that the agency will take up the work at the earliest by arranging the balance funds.
Sadly, other than conducting the exercise of soil testing by the agency appointed by GSUDA last year, there’s no change in the ground reality at the old fish market, behind the Margao municipal building to date.
Hopes were raised late last year after former Congress MLA Digambar Kamat embraced the BJP in September, that the project would soon see light of the day, on the premise that the MLA would pursue the project with the Pramod Sawant government.
The Goan now understands that the tender for the long-delayed project, estimated to cost Rs seven crore, is yet to be floated by GSUDA. Inquiries have only revealed that the project has now gone for the government’s administrative approval.
This implies that it will take some time for GSUDA to comply with the tendering formalities before the bidder is shortlisted to execute the work, with an official saying that the project may not see the light of the day even in 2024 given the time required to put the multi-level concrete structure in place.
Work on project begins after bitter row
MARGAO
Even as work on the multi-level parking project has hit a block for reasons best known to the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) and the government, work on the Goa State Urban Development Agency’s (GSUDA) parking lot at the city’s Old market has finally got underway after a bitter row.
A visit to the MMC-acquired land at the old market has revealed that soling work on the parking lot is presently underway. It’s not clear whether the MMC has finally issued the NOC to execute work on its acquired land, but work on the project has started in right earnest at the site.
Work on the parking lot was stopped in May by the MMC on the ground that GSUDA did not obtain the NOC from the municipality at the time of execution of work. GSUDA officials, however, insisted that the agency is taking up the ground-level parking project as per the resolution of the civic body.
"Our contractor has started work on the parking lot at the Old market. Work on soling is underway at the site. The work, though delayed after the MMC stopped the work in May, is now progressing at the site," remarked a GSUDA official.
The project had kicked up a row after Goa Forward Party chief & Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai along with citizens and party-backed MMC councillors laid the foundation stone after the government cancelled the programme at the eleventh hour.
