PANAJI
It’s a speculative question, but we need to ask it.
What would have happened if the State government had opted to divert heavy traffic away from Porvorim-Panaji via Karaswada-Banastarim before building the third bridge across the river Mandovi?
It might have been discovered that there was no need for a third bridge at an exorbitant cost of ` 822 crore.
The state government embarked on its ambitious plan to construct the cable-stayed third Mandovi Bridge citing the need for additional infrastructure to handle the increasing vehicular traffic across the river.
However, considering the initial success of the ongoing diversion of heavy commercial goods vehicles at Karaswada and Banastari, the third bridge costing each Goan ` 5,600, appears to be a mistake in the making.
District Magistrate (North Goa) had, on April 10, ordered the temporary traffic diversion during peak hours between 8 am and 10 pm till the inauguration of the third bridge so as to prevent instances of bottlenecks along the highway in Porvorim and around Kadamba Corporation terminus at Panaji.
Over the last month, all heavy commercial goods vehicles have been diverted at Karaswada junction and Banastarim junction to proceed via Assnora, Bicholim, Sanquelim, Amona Bridge and Banastari. Vehicles carrying perishable or essential goods are allowed to travel beyond Karaswada junction and Banastarim junction to adjacent villages during night time upon securing written permission from Traffic Headquarters.
Top cops in charge of the Ponda, Mapusa and Porvorim areas all confirmed that the new traffic route has immensely reduced the burden on the city roads. It was learnt that the traffic police personnel work two to three shifts between 8 am and 10 pm to man the major junctions along the stretch.
A trip along the diversion route showed that the traffic tends to be held up only along the narrow roads in Assonora and Sanquelim. The sole downfall to this arrangement is that the usual 25-minute trip from Karaswada junction in Mapusa to the Kadamba bus terminus in Panaji, which adds up to 14.5 kms across the Mandovi bridges, increases to whopping 54.5 kms and takes almost 1.5 hour to cover.
The new arrangement is in keeping with the philosophy of the Regional Plan 2021 to divert traffic away from NH17 towards the interiors in order to create business hubs and to reduce congestion.
What should have been done through deliberate decisions has happened via desperate measures and suddenly the third Mandovi bridge looks like a work of futility which will only increase traffic along NH17.
When the work of the third Mandovi bridge began, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation had estimated that almost 65,000 vehicles cross Mandovi bridges each day and that the 3.19 km new bridge will ensure that at least a third of these would take the direct route to Margao or Ponda without entering the capital city.
The third Mandovi bridge will eventually cost the people of Goa between ` 812 to 822 crore, the loan amount being ` 462.60 crore and the interest amount of ` 350 to 360 crore, as provided by sources from GSIDC. In other words, each of the 14,57,723 Goans will contribute ` 5,600 towards construction of the bridge.
With the new traffic plan working smoothly, the tearing hurry in which the state government initiated the work on the third bridge comes under scrutiny while also raising question over the whooping expenditure which the state government plans to incur at the cost of the people.
