Most of the highway expansion work across North Goa, barring the stretch in Porvorim, has been nearly completed. However, in South Goa, a large part of the highway widening work drags on, entangled in protests over land acquisition. The work has barely even taken off with protests from locals from Bhoma to Borim to Cuncolim and Karmal Ghat.
The highway four/six-laning work in Goa began from late 2016, and is almost complete from Patradevi to Bambolim and now across the Zuari up to Cortalim, following opening of all eight lanes of the new Zuari bridge.
The entire stretch from Navelim to Canacona up to Pollem, which is the Goa-Karnataka border, remains to be widened. There are protests in the Karmal Ghat area, which is an accident-prone zone, and activists are demanding the construction of a tunnel to save trees in the area. The work on Navelim to Cuncolim stretch is similarly stuck with two different factions asking us to shift the alignment to protect their side of the houses at the cost of houses on another side, said a state official.
Earlier, the PWD had acquired only a part of the land required for the Cuncolim bypass at Panzorconi and remaining land is yet to be acquired for the Cuncolim bypass alignment between Uskinibandh to the Balli primary health centre. Land acquisition for this project itself is estimated to cost Rs 405 crore now, after frequent delays due to increase in land prices.
The project of highway widening from Canacona bypass to Mashem till the check post at Pollem is expected to cost Rs 50 crore.
Meanwhile, highway widening work is pending from Corlim in Old Goa up to Mollem. On this stretch, there are protests at Bhoma. Even though the survey has been completed, we are not able to complete the land acquisition process. Only Ponda bypass and Khandepar stretch has been completed on this highway. Similarly, in Borim too we are faced with opposition to land acquisition, said the official.
The bridge connecting Borim to Loutolim is expected to cost Rs 400 crore.
