PANAJI
As the first meeting of G20 Summit in Goa is slated to begin on April 17, the capital city has been witnessing a frenzy of road repair works and beautification efforts, which otherwise had been taking place at a snail’s pace.
The road repair works, beautification projects, daily road sweeping, roadside greenery, and landscape development, etc along the main parts of Panaji have been prioritized only because of the fast-approaching event. Officials said that the G20 meetings have led to expediting the works being undertaken through the Smart City, Electricity and Public Works Departments; and the Goa Waste Management Corporation.
The residents and the floating population have been bearing the brunt of the inconvenience caused by the unplanned Smart City works and G20 preparations for several weeks now.
Sanjit Rodrigues, Nodal Officer (G20) assured that all the concerned departments have risen to the occasion to put the infrastructure in place for the betterment of Goa, through the upcoming event.
“The ongoing Infrastructure related works are not easy to fast track. As much as people have been put through a lot of inconveniences, the result will be seen to benefit Goa. The last time such infrastructure-related works were done was in 2004 when Goa hosted IFFI for the first time,” he said.
With Rs 300 crores budgetary allocation made for the event, the G20 team has shared various works undertaken by the stakeholders that also included a special landscape horticulturist and architect. Interestingly, separate batches of personnel are appointed as ‘conservancy workers’ for sweeping roads and pavements, clearing leaf litter, and eliminating black spots, daily at regular intervals.
The quality of roads which was a major concern had been uplifted, as the officials claimed, most works are being completed.
“We have strengthened and improved riding quality from Divja Circle to Old Goa and the ring road around Old Goa Church,” Bhushan Savaikar, OSD (Civil Works) for G20 said.
Improvement and bituminous topping of several other roads have been undertaken besides, improving road stretches and painting road dividers.
Two venues at a multilevel car parking facility at Patto and the Goa University ground are booked to cater to the parking needs of the meeting attendees, in addition to parking facilities below the Atal Setu Bridge are also set up.
