However, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) Chairman Michael Lobo cautioned that merely inaugurating the market would not resolve its longstanding issues. He stressed the need for the SGPDA to outsource the upkeep and maintenance of the facility to ensure proper hygiene, cleanliness and efficient management.
The August 1 deadline was announced by SGPDA Chairman and MLA Krishna Salkar after an inspection of the market on Thursday. The inspection was attended by GSIDC Chairman Michael Lobo, PWD Minister Digambar Kamat, officials of the SGPDA and GSIDC, as well as representatives of the Margao Wholesale Fish Traders Association.
During the inspection, SGPDA officials identified several additional works that need to be completed before the market is opened. These include installing anti-skid material on the newly constructed fish platforms, improving the drainage system, and completing work on the lifts.
Lobo assured that the GSIDC was prepared to undertake and fund the remaining works. “The GSIDC is ready to spend whatever is required to complete the additional works,” he said, while reiterating that the SGPDA should hand over maintenance responsibilities to a professional agency.
“The duty of the SGPDA is to approve plans. You cannot expect a planning authority to maintain a market of the size of the Margao wholesale fish market,” Lobo said.
He also pointed out that the commercial offices constructed on the first floor of the market complex would attract occupants only if the premises were properly maintained.
“Businessmen will take these offices only if the market is clean, well-maintained and efficiently managed,” he added.
PWD Minister Digambar Kamat echoed Lobo’s views, backing the proposal to outsource the maintenance of both the market and the office complex.
“Let the SGPDA appoint a professional agency to maintain the market and address the other operational issues,” Kamat said.
No STP or ETP plant in the market
Even as the SGPDA has drawn up plans to inaugurate the wholesale fish market on August 1, the redeveloped Margao wholesale fish market has still no effluent treatment plant to treat the leachate and waste water generated in the market.
When the media drew attention of GSIDC Chairman Michael Lobo during the inspection, PWD Minister Digambar Kamat said the PDA has invited BITS Pilani to resume operations of the defunct plant at the market.
He further said the Water Resources Department will soon invite tenders to set up a sewage treatment plant at the wholesale fish market to treat the sewage and effluents generated in the market.
Sopo fee collection tender not floated yet
Strange it may seem but true that the SGPDA is yet to float sopo collection fee tender in the wholesale fish market. Even as the PDA is planning to inaugurate the market on August 1, there’s no clarity when the authority will float the sopo collection tender.
Fears are raised there may be further delay in floating the sopo tender to factor the outsourcing of facilities in the market. “The PDA had floated the tender in 2023, but the same could not be taken to its logical conclusion because of objections to some clauses. We will try to float the tender and award the sopo fee collection to an agency at the earliest,” PDA Chairman Krishna Salkar added.
