MARGAO
The South Goa Planning and Development Authority has yet again missed the deadline over the question of floating the tender for the Margao wholesale fish market sopo fee collection, throwing up questions over the inordinate delay by the planning body in floating the sopo tender.
In December last year, SGPDA Chairman, MLA Daji Salkar had promised that the PDA will float the sopo collection fees tender in the New Year around mid-January. After the PDA missed its self-imposed deadline in January, the PDA Chairman told the media that the promised tender will be floated within days.
Sadly, the promised tender has not seen the light of day in the month of February, again throwing up the moot question over the reasons behind the PDA’s delay in floating the tender.
When The Goan called up SGPDA Chairman, MLA Krishna Salkar to shed light on the failure by the planning body to float the tender, he said the formalities pertaining to the tender are all complete and the tender will be floated soon.
In fact, he pointed out that the SGPDA is bracing up for the pre-bid meeting with the prospective bidders, adding all these things will fall in place after floating the tender.
The Goan understands that the SGPDA had completed and complied with all the required formalities to float the tender, including obtaining government permissions during the tenure of the outgoing PDA Member Secretary Sheikh Ali, throwing up questions what has caused the further delay after Ali’s exit.
The inordinate delay in floating the tender, however, is mired in mystery. In fact, the delay in tendering the sopo fee collection sounds strange when the PDA has been losing precious revenue every month on sopo fees.
As per its own assessment and estimate, the SGPDA had claimed that the sopo fee collection in the wholesale fish market has the potential to enrich the PDA coffers by a whopping monthly revenue amounting to Rs 33 lakh as against the current average revenue pegged in the region of Rs 12-15 lakh collected departmentally.
The last time the SGPDA had floated the tender was in August-September 2023, but the tender could not be taken to its logical conclusion due to a contentious clause mandating the bidders to possess 10-year experience in fishing business. Though the government had relaxed the controversial clause around December, the PDA could not float the tender again in 2024 for reasons best known to the PDA members.
The issued had figured prominently on the floor of the Goa Legislative Assembly in the monsoon session last year, with TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane reassuring members that the PDA will soon float the long-delayed wholesale fish market sopo fee collection tender, but in vain.
Wholesale fish market inauguration delayed over power panel dispute
MARGAO: Strange it may sound, but true that while the ruling dispensation had created a buzz that the re-developed Margao wholesale fish market will be commissioned on Republic Day, the inauguration is yet to take place till date.
When The Goan called up SGPDA Chairman, MLA Krishna Daji Salkar to shed light on the delay in inaugurating the wholesale fish market project, he attributed the same to the issue over the electrical panel installed in the market. Costing around Rs 13 lakh, Salkar said the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) wanted the SGPDA to foot the bill of the electrical panel, which the planning body politely declined to do so. “Since the electric panel is part of the re-development of the wholesale fish market project, we impressed upon the GSIDC to bear the cost of executing the work on the electric panel. Once the job is executed, the PDA will fix the date for the commissioning of the market project,” he said.
Asked to shed light on the fate of phase-II of the wholesale fish market project, Salkar said the PDA will execute phase-II after the commissioning of the market. When his attention was drawn to reports that the GSIDC has not executed the proposal for a cold storage unit facility at the wholesale fish market for the benefit of the traditional and Goan fishermen, Salkar said the issue will be discussed at the SGPDA meeting.
