MARGAO
A glance at the Master Plan 2041 overview, compiled by Mumbai-based urban planning firm Studio Pod for the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA), reveals a series of ambitious proposals centered around plots acquired by GSUDA nearly two decades ago.
These lands were acquired for a nominal compensation by the BJP government over two decades ago against the wishes of the farmers cultivating the fields.
In fact, GSUDA had acquired the fields admeasuring 1.37 square meters at Madel in Fatorda to set up a controversial truck terminus. The fields admeasuring 28,000 square metres located opposite the Margao railway station, where fields are still actively cultivated, were acquired for the purpose of setting up a transportation centre in the South of Margao.
These properties have now taken centre stage in the urban transformation agenda for Margao, the commercial capital of Goa.
Divided into three zones in the Master plan, zone one in the city’s north speaks about a river front and a sponge park, with the plan proposing regeneration of the NH66 as a Civic and commercial corridor, throwing up a question or two whether the GSUDA acquired fields at Madel figure in the plan to develop the highway as a civic and economic corridor.
In Zone 3, which covers South Margao, the Master Plan envisions the area as a new economic node, connected to the city through a proposed transit loop. Though the plan stops short of directly naming the GSUDA-acquired land opposite the Margao railway station for this purpose, it proposes the creation of an innovation hub in the vicinity. This hub is expected to include facilities for retail, art and culture, entertainment, incubation, innovation labs, hospitality, and multipurpose use.
