MARGAO
It’s official. The Margao western bypass will finally see the light of day by the end of December, over three decades since land for the project was acquired in the 90s.
According to PWD-NH officials, the road bypass will be opened for vehicular traffic around mid-December, which will connect the existing road bypass at Verna in the north and Navelim in the south.
Hectic activity is seen on the road bypass along the 2.5 km Seraulim-Mungul-Benaulim stretch, with men and machinery on the job to complete the project before the year-end. When 'The Goan' team drove down the bypass on Monday, heavy machinery was on the job to hot-mix the stretch, with road rollers plying along the entire length.
Labourers were engaged in filling up the space along the dividers for the vegetation to take shape in the coming days. The contractor has already installed the illumination along the stretch.
A senior PWD-NH official informed that while the work of hot-mixing will be completed in the next couple of days, the road will be opened for traffic after the completion of a road safety audit. The official pointed out that local residents living along the bypass can use the corridor for evening walks and jogging.
While the western bypass along the Verna-Nuvem-Margao wholesale fish market in the north and Navelim-Telaulim stretch was completed long ago and is accommodating traffic, work on the remaining 2.5 km Seraulim-Mungul-Benaulim stretch could not be taken up along with the other two stretches, given that the people of these villages had been demanding construction of the bypass on stilts to prevent flooding and inundation during the rains.
Of the remaining 2.5 km Seraulim-Mungul-Benaulim stretch of the bypass, the government has constructed the road on a bypass along a 900-metre stretch as per the recommendation of the high-level expert panel appointed by the National Green Tribunal.
