MARGAO
Two multi-crore projects in South Goa, the prestigious NIT permanent campus at Cuncolim and the 100-tonne capacity waste treatment plant at Cacora will be commissioned at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually at the Viksit Bharat, Viksit Goa rally at the Margao KTC bus stand on February 6.
Both the projects have started operations at their respective locations, the Cacora waste management plant in May 2023 and the NIT permanent campus in January 2024 and the Prime Minister will be formally launching the projects on Tuesday during his Viksit Bharat and Viksit Goa programme at the Margao KTC bus stand on Tuesday along with a couple of other projects.
Cacora waste treatment plant
The waste treatment plant set up by the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) at an estimated cost of Rs 173 crore with a capacity to treat 100 tonnes of waste per day.
Set up under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, the plant is primarily established to handle waste from the four talukas of Canacona, Quepem, Sanguem and Dharbandora. Since the plant started trial runs since May 2023, the plant is presently handling around 55 tonnes of waste on an average per day.
Though Salcete taluka does not come under the ambit of the Cacora plant, the waste management plant is presently handling around 30 tonnes of waste per day supplied by the Margao Municipal Council.
GWMC Managing Director Levinson Martins informed that the plant has a capacity to generate 0.9 megawatt of power per day when it functions to its full capacity of treating 100 tons of waste per day.
“Of the power generated by the plant, around 70 per cent of the power will be utilized to run the plant, while the balance power will be sold to the power grid,” he said.
To a question, Martins pointed out that the government has 60 per cent stake in the project and the project has been funded with loan from NABARD.
To another question, he said the Cacora Plant is accepting waste from the Margao Municipal Council as a purely temporary measure in view of the High Court directions.
The NIT permanent campus at Cuncolim. (PIC 2)
National Institute of Technology,
Cuncolim (Permanent campus)
The Rs 390 crore prestigious NIT Permanent campus at Cuncolim has been set up at the sprawling 114 acres parcel of land, catapulting the historic village on the country’s education map.
The NIT has started its operations at the permanent campus since last month and will be formally commissioned at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually on Tuesday from Margao.
Sources pointed out that it took around five years for the NIT permanent campus to take shape, including the two year COVID period.
The massive infrastructure set up at the campus includes 1,275 hostel rooms, around 90 classrooms, besides 40 rooms for the teaching and non-teaching staff.
Sources informed that around 40 per cent of the seats will be reserved for Goan students, while 10 per cent of the seats reserved for students from Daman and Diu, with the balance 50 per cent open for the general category.
The proposal to set up the NIT permanent campus at Cuncolim was first mooted over a decade ago, but opposition to the proposal to acquire around 12 lakh square metres of land, grounded the project.
