MARGAO
A little over a decade after work was abandoned midway due to strong public protests, former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao’s dream “Navelim-Benaulim” bridge over river Sal is finally nearing completion and will soon see light of the day.
If all goes well and the work is completed on schedule, the Navelim-Benaulim bridge may be thrown up for traffic before the onset of monsoons.
PWD Superintending engineer Prasad Panandikar, who got the project revived after Minister Nilesh Cabral took over the reins of the PWD in the Pramod Sawant-led government a year ago, informed that the PWD is racing against time to complete the bridge as well as the approach roads so that the bridge is commissioned tentatively by June 10.
The Navelim-Benaulim bridge was one of the three dream bridges proposed by Churchill Alemao during his stint as the PWD Minister. While the Assolna-Cavelossim bridge and the Varca-Telaulim bridge have been commissioned around a decade ago, the Navelim-Benaulim bridge was bogged in a major controversy after residents of Sinquetim-Navelim vehemently opposed the construction of the bridge on a host of factors, including the reason that the bridge would pave way for the demolition of houses and structures dotting along the narrow Sinquetim road.
While work on the bridge commenced when Churchill presided over the PWD portfolio, the work was abandoned after a change in political guard in Navelim and Benaulim in the 2012 polls.
The new Navelim MLA Avertano Furtado and his Benaulim counterpart, Caitu Silva, who had extended support to the BJP government led by late Manohar Parrikar in 2012, were quick to object to the bridge.
Parrikar inspected the bridge work soon after returning to power in 2012, before ordering a stop to all work on the bridge days later.
With no solution in sight, the contractor abandoned the work and dragged the PWD to court. Since the PWD was believed to have spent around rupees five crore on the bridge, the proposal was revived after the 2017 polls when Churchill Alemao returned to the Goa Legislative Assembly from the Benaulim constituency.
Churchill’s attempt to revive the project was again vehemently objected to by the residents of Sinquetim, leaving the new contractor to go slow on the project.
Superintending engineer Panandikar told The Goan that the PWD has spent the balance Rs four crore on the project to complete the decade-old project.
“Work on the project is almost complete. Work on the approach road has been taken up for construction. If everything works out as per the time frame, the bridge will be inaugurated before June 10,” he said.
The controversial Navelim-Benaulim bridge had thrown up a question or two over a decade ago, with opponents questioning the need for the bridge when another bridge had taken shape at Telaulim. The part commissioning of the western bypass, linking Benaulim and Navelim has further reduced the importance of the Navelim-Benaulim bridge.
