THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA
Acknowledging that certain road stretches perennially deteriorate and develop large potholes during monsoons, Waste Management Minister, Michael Lobo said such stretches and accident prone zones should be treated differently and improvised upon so that motorists and pedestrians do not suffer.
He said he will fix all such bad road stretches in Calangute and also help other MLAs restore roads in their constituencies.
“It is crucial to improve such key road stretches and accident prone areas which constantly develop potholes in the rains. Such stretches should be treated differently either by concreting them or installing interlocking pavers,” Lobo said.
He also stressed on constructing proper drains on all sides of the road to provide an outlet for rain water to drain out.
The Waste Management Minister was addressing the media while inspecting the ongoing work of fixing interlocking pavers on the main road near Hotel Nagao Grande in Arproa.
The improvement of around 300 metre road has been taken up by PWD at a cost of around Rs 25 lakh.
Lobo said he got the work passed through the chief minister as part of monsoon work, which was expected to be completed within next two to three days.
“Motorists and pedestrians were facing a lot of hardship on this road. Every monsoon this stretch would develop large potholes and invariably people would meet with accidents,” he said.
He further said the particular road was hotmixed every year but unfortunately during the rains the hotmix would get washed away and the whole stretch would be peppered with potholes.
“So this time we took a decision to elevate the portion of the road and fix interlocking tiles instead of hotmixing it. We have also taken precaution so that rain water does accumulate on the road by constructing adequate drains,” he said
He further said there were similar areas in Verla-Canca and other parts of Calangute which will also be taken up for improvement.
The Waste Management Minister said that he will also help MLAs from other constituencies to fix their roads in similar way.
“I will take help of other MLAs to identify such problems of roads in their constituencies and help to fix the roads there,” he said.
