the goan I network
PANAJI
The Goa government has approved new road and other repair works and financial sanction of an aggregate Rs 300 crores has been granted to the Public Works Department by the State’s Finance Ministry.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters after a cabinet meeting that it would now be his government’s urgent endeavour to get on with physical execution of the road repair works across the State.
Sawant, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the financial approvals to repair damaged roads has already been granted and work will be tendered and executed soon.
Battered by an unusually excessive monsoon and ongoing major projects, roads in the State have been the source of severe criticism for the Sawant government and in particular the PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar.
In fact, under pressure from their constituents suffering bad roads, at least 30 legislators have directly complained to Sawant and demanded execution of work. The MLAs have also raised concerns over frequent interruptions in power supply.
Meanwhile, the cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday morning approved the extension of a power purchase agreement with a subsidiary of the National Thermal Power Corporation for purchase of solar power.
The PPA entered with the national power PSU in 2014 had expired earlier in Septemver. The renewal of the PPA also entails a 2 rupee per unit reduction of price.
While the per unit price of the solar power cost the State some seven-odd rupees per unit in the 2014 PPA, it is now to cost Rs 5-odd per unit under the renewed agreement.
Under the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission law, the State is compulsorily required to buy a portion of its power from renewable energy sources and Goa opted in 2014 to buy solar power from the NTPC subsidiary.
Meanwhile in another decision, the cabinet approved granting renewal of contracts to some 130 para-teachers.
