PANAJI
Criticising the previous governments for only showing dreams to the people when elections approach, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the double-engine BJP government believes in delivering on its promises.
Sawant was speaking at the function of lifting the closure segment of the 640-metre span of one side of the four-lane cable stayed Zuari bridge on Tuesday.
One side of the four-lane segment is expected to be completed and thrown open to traffic by December this year and the second four-lane segment to be completed by March 2023.
“Goans have seen the State’s development in the 60 years of its liberation. But the infrastructure development that has happened from 2014 till date is for everyone to see as our government believes in delivering on its promises,” Sawant stated.
He added that the total expenditure on road infrastructure undertaken by the BJP government, in the last 8 years, would amount to over Rs 22,000 crore.
“In the last 50 years, we were only shown dreams by way of laying foundation stones just before elections,” Sawant informed and hit out at the previous government for building bridges which cannot be used by four-wheelers.
“This bridge was planned keeping in view the requirements of the next 100 years and the architect of the Zuari bridge is Nitin Gadkari under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi,,” the CM said.
He informed that trhe new Zuari bridge will be inaugurated at a grand function, in which Gadkari and other dignitaries will participate.
Sawant further said the total cost of the project is Rs 1,463 crore and it is the second longest cable stayed bridge in India with a span of 640 metres.
He further said the connectivity of North to South Goa will become easy with the commissioning of the four-lane, which will also ease the traffic congestion happening when crossing over the old Zuari bridge.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral too wasted no time in hitting out at the previous government as he said that they will now claim that the bridge became a reality as they had laid a foundation stone for it.
“A foundation stone was laid for the bridge long back and these people could lay claim that they are responsible for the bridge like they always do,” he chided.
“This was one of the projects emphasised by the Central government under the vision of PM Modi and Nitin Gadkari. Right from concept to design and execution of the bridge was done after 2014,” Cabral pointed out.
He further informed that the first 4-lane will be opened by December this year and the entire project, including the second 4-lane will be completed by March 2023 with the company undertaking maintenance for 8 years after completion.
He further patted the Dilip Buildcon for coming out with solution to problems arising for the bridge, particularly during pandemic time when consultants from foreign countries could not come here.
Meanwhile, the chief minister gave the green signal to lift the closure segment, which took more than three hours to be completely linked.
Vice-president of Dilip Buildcon Limited Atul Joshi, PWD’s principal chief engineer Uttam Parsekar, Chief Engineer (NH) Dinesh Gupta, GSIDC Vice-Chairman Deepak Naik and others were present.
Revolving towers to be built under PPP mode
PANAJI:
Stating that the revolving towers were not part of the new Zuari bridge project, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral informed that the same would be built under PPP-basis.
“The towers were not part of the new Zuari bridge project but it was a concept put forth by Nitin Gadkari. We have only laid the foundation for the towers, the rest of the project from the foundation level till the towers will be built on PPP project for which a tender would be floated,” Cabral stated.
“It will cost around Rs 325-350 crore, which the Centre or the State cannot bear, due to which we are going for PPP mode,” he added while stating that the government will try to complete the revolving towers before March 2025 as well.
No restriction for vehicles on new Zuari bridge: Cabral
PANAJI:
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral said there will be no restriction on the new Zuari Bridge, like Atal Setu, where two-wheelers are banned.
“On Atal Setu, there is a ban on two-wheelers because of high wind velocity which can result in two-wheelers losing balance. But this bridge is designed such that there is no problem of wind velocity,” Cabral said.
When questioned on the fate of the old Zuari bridge once the new bridge is opened, Cabral said the decision will be taken after the new bridge is complete.
On the Borim bridge, CM Pramod Sawant said the planning is completed and land acquisition process is underway.
“Once the process is completed that bridge will also be taken up under MoRTH so that connectivity from Dhavalim to the missing-link is completed,” Sawant informed.
