PANAJI
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who was in Goa on Friday to inaugurate the second arm of the 8-lane Zuari bridge and stayed overnight in the State held a massive exercise on Saturday to review the progress of several ongoing work and assess the future requirements of the State related to road infrastructure.
Gadkari held discussions with NHAI officials, Goa government officials as also some of the representatives of contractor firms executing the works in the State. Some of the projects reviewed included the Mopa link road, the Western bypass at Margao, the highway connectivity to Mormugao Port and the elevated corridor at Porvorim.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who currently holds the PWD portfolio and Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, and Union Minister of State General (Retd) V K Singh were also at the review meeting.
The Mopa airport link road connects the new Manohar International Airport to the National Highway 66 and is an ongoing project the Union minister had sanctioned a year ago. After Saturday's review meeting, this crucial link road is set for completion in April next year and one of the pillars of this elevated road is said to become the tallest of any such in the country.
Gadkari also issued instructions to those connected with the execution of the six-lane elevated corridor project at Porvorim to ensure that work commences on it by the end of next month.
In another significant decision taken at the meeting, Gadkari agreed to ensure that none of the intra-State highways will have toll plazas or any usage toll charged to users. He told the meeting that the Central government has approved the proposal to make all the internal roads in Goa toll free.
Other projects reviewed and new deadlines set either for completion or for commencement of work included, the new Borim bridge, the Sanquelim-Khanapur road via Chorla ghat which is parallel to the existing one to be constructed by following Forest and environment protocols and the Anmod-Khandepar highway.
