Downtown planning scheme for Mapusa: CM

Mapusa: A downtown planning scheme in 18 lakh sq m area near Bodgeshwar temple with an interstate bus stand, market, parking facility, Ravindra Bhavan and other facilities is on the cards, with North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) and others working on it.

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar announced this while interacting with stakeholders and beneficiaries of the scheme at a meeting organized by NGPDA at a hotel at Mapusa on Monday. Parrikar stated that the government will implement the scheme after taking landowners and tenants of the land to be acquired into confidence.

NGPDA has already identified the land for the scheme. But Parrikar assured that it is a voluntary scheme which will be implemented only after consent from land owners and tenants.

The area will also have a warehouse, community hall and joggers park. The development of government offices, ring roads and exhibition centres are also proposed.

Urban development minister Francis D’Souza, NGPDA chairman Michael Lobo, MMC chairperson Rohan Kavelakr, GSUDA vice-chairman Sandeep Falari, member secretary R K Pandita, councillors Sudhir Kandolkar and Ryan Branganza, and others, were present at the meeting. “Out of the total land, one third would be used for development of various amenities, the other parts for public facilities, while one-third will be given back to the landowners and tenants for development. The plot will be a commercial zone with FAR of 300%,” Parrikar said.

Downtown Mapusa with plans to develop 12 lakh sq m will be part of phase I, while phase II will focus on Camarkhazan and Gaunsavaddo, comprising six lakh sq m of land.

Sanjay Barde, president of Mapusa Shetkari Samiti, said the government was trying to grab lakhs of square metres of farmers’ agricultural land through the scheme at a pittance. Other stakeholders also raised key issues of comunidade lands with tenants on them, which would be acquired for development