MAPUSA
The government has initiated the process of desilting of a five kilometre stretch of the Mapusa River from the highway bridge at Guirim to Moira.
The Captain of Ports (CoP) has floated a tender inviting bids to carry out desilting work of the Mapusa river also known as Tar river at a length of 5 km, 15 metre wide and 2 metre depth.
The work has been scheduled to commence by December this year and has to be completed by March 2024.
The tender work also stipulates disposal of the desilted material at the designated disposal ground as per the provisions of the CRZ Notification, 1991.
According to CoP, heavy siltation in the river led to incidents of flooding during monsoon at Guirim, Bastora and Mapusa and therefore desilting of the river was the need of the hour.
During the monsoon session of the Goa Assembly, Water Resources Minister Subhash Shirodkar had assured the House that improvement of the Mapusa River from Guirim to Tar junction will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 41.94 crore in an effort to mitigate the flooding problem in Guirim.
He had said besides dredging the river from Moira to Tar bridge, there was also a provision for construction of a wall protecting the banks of the river at vulnerable stretches for a length of about 1200 meters.
