Centre inspects Porvorim corridor, Borim bridge projects

Panaji: A top official of the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), ranked director general, visited Goa over the weekend to inspect the construction site of the six-lane elevated highway corridor at Porvorim. State officials said it was a routine year-end visit to inspect and review ongoing works on ministry-funded infrastructure projects in the state.

The six-lane highway corridor at Porvorim, a Rs 350 crore project funded by the ministry, was inspected by officials over two days, including a review of the proposed Borim bridge.

“He inquired about technical matters, materials, and traffic movement during construction work for both Porvorim and Borim projects. He also reviewed other national highway expansion works in the state,” said a source.

Highway four/six-laning works in Goa began in 2016, with over Rs 10,000 crore spent on the projects so far.

Amid opposition, state govt recently finalised land acquisition for the new Borim bridge, acquiring 3.40 lakh sqm of land at Loutolim, Borim, and Bandora villages. Officials said compensation procedures for the acquired land will begin soon. A four-lane cable-stayed bridge has also been planned at Borim.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 300 crore, including the approaches to the bridge. It involves constructing a new Borim bridge over the Zuari and a 5.7km bypass to the existing Borim bridge on NH 566.

Recent ministry-approved projects include a four-laning of 7.2km stretch of NH-66 from the end of Margao bypass to Cuncolim at the cost of Rs 747 crore, with a 4.5 km six-lane flyover. The widening will also be carried out for 22.1km from Bendordem to the beginning of the Canacona bypass, and from the end of the Canacona bypass to the Karnataka border at Polem at the cost of over Rs 1,000 crore. This work has already been tendered.

MoRTH has also recently approved Rs 557 crore for four-laning the 9.6km stretch from Ponda to Bhoma on NH-748.





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