New road projects worth Rs. 1,250 crore for the state of Goa have been approved by the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry today, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced.
Addressing a press conference, he said that four new phases of road development work would be taken up in the state.
The road from Navelim to Cuncolim will be six and a half km long. For this, 24 hectares of land has been acquired and the estimated cost of the road is Rs. 270 crore. Also, the 8 km road from Cancona outer bypass road to Polem will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 200 crore, the minister explained.
The road from Sanjeevani Sugar Factory Dharbandora to Khandepar will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 200 crore and Ponda to Bhoma four-lane will be constructed with an outlay of Rs. 575 crore, he added.
Development projects worth more than Rs. 25,000 crore, under Sagarmala and Bharatmala Projects, have been implemented in Goa since 2014, Gadkari said.
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The Union Minister informed that the annual budget for development works to be carried out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in Goa has been increased from Rs. 2,000 crore to Rs. 5,000 crore.
Speaking about the much-awaited state of the art bridge on Zuari river, which is deemed to be a major tourist attraction in the state, the Minister informed that it has been decided not to have any toll plaza at the bridge, although land has been acquired for that purpose. The toll plaza at the state border will continue to be operational, he added.
The acquired land would be used for setting up tourist amenities like a revolving restaurant, gas stations etc. A viewers’ gallery modelled on the Eiffel Tower will also be set up on that land. Tenders will be floated for this purpose, Gadkari said.
The layout of the gallery has been completed and the actual work will begin by December 15. One lane of the Zuari Bridge will be inaugurated in the first week of December. The restaurant and a mall, which will be developed along with the viewers’ gallery, will have access to both sides of the road. The Union Minister said that space would be made available in the mall for the sale of local products.
The Union Minister further informed that work on the link road to Mopa Airport will start soon. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will spend Rs. 1,200 crore for the seven-kilometre road.
Gadkari also informed that the dredging work sanctioned by the Shipping Ministry for the Mormugao port from the Sagarmala project will be completed soon. He also said that the detailed project report for electronic clusters, pharmaceutical factories and fishing harbours has been completed and project work would start soon.
