PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said the quality of work of the 'smart city' projects is "ninety per cent" and some problems may arise but hastened to add that the same contractors will be mandated to resolve the issues whenever they arise.
Sawant also urged residents in the capital to connect their dwellings to the new sewerage system, warning that power and water connections will be disconnected if they fail to do so. He said, there are nearly 50-odd sewerage outlets flowing into the St Inez creek and once the new sewerage system goes online, it will all stop but citizens need to connect to the new system.
Sawant was speaking to the media as he went around inspecting the different sites where smart city work was carried out and is incomplete a day after the High Court-designated May 31 deadline to finish all the work. Also accompanying the Chief Minister was Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who represents Panaji, his mayor-son Rohit Monserrate and officials, including IPSCDL managing director and CEO, Sanjit Rodrigues, IAS.
Sawant also said it is the failure of the planning consultants engaged by Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) that work got delayed and overran the May 31 deadline. Sawant said that the major part of the sewerage work has been completed in the whole of Panaji and the concretised roads will mean that there will be no problems (about roads) for the next 25 years.
Panaji's flooding
Sawant said that Panaji faces a peculiar flooding issue when the tides are high and it rains heavily simultaneously.
The city has three main storm water drains but when the water level is high in the Mandovi river, the storm water does not flow out, causing the floods.
Sawant said a long-term solution in the form of installing a "sluice gate" and pump out the excess water is being considered.
IPSCDL releases locality-wise work finished
Meanwhile, the IPSCDL on Saturday released a status report of work finished and what is yet to be completed, locality-wise according to which more than 90 per cent of 'Smart City' work is complete.
It said, in the Central Panaji area, 7.4 kilometres of sewerage pipeline has been laid and 250 of the 251 manholes completed. Work on one manhole is ongoing while 3.5 kilometres of roads have been laid anew, it added.
In the St Inez area, three kilometres of sewerage pipeline is laid and 72 of the 75 manholes finished. The remaining three manholes are a work in progress while 2.85 of the three-kilometre road work is complete.
At the other (eastern) end in the Ribandar area, 9.6 km of sewerage pipeline is fully completed and 280 of the 300 manholes are also finished. Also, four kilometres of road work is completed there, IPSCDL said.
In the capital's Latin Quarter (Fontainhas), a 2.2 km sewerage pipeline is laid and all 73 manholes are completed. Work currently in progress there relates to the restoration of the roads, the status report said, adding that in the adjoining Mala too, a 3.3 km sewerage line is fully complete and work on only one of the 109 manholes is 'in progress'.
In Altinho, 450 meters of sewerage pipeline has been fully completed and 10 out of 18 manholes are completed. It is an area where the overall completion status is just 78%, according to IPSCDL's report.
CCP restores 'pay parking'
With most of the city's roads opened up although some continue to be narrowed down as some smart city work is still incomplete, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has permitted its contractor to restart the collection of parking fees in the city from Friday.
CCP had kept the pay-parking regime in the city on hold from March 24 following the traffic chaos across Panaji due to the Smart City projects which were ongoing.
