O’Coqueiro to Mall De Goa stretch on NH 66 shut from today for 5 months

Panaji: Two lanes of the NH 66 on the O’Coqueiro to Mall De Goa stretch will be shut down for all vehicular traffic from Sunday to Jan 31, 2026, for the “critical activity of launching of precast segments” of the Porvorim elevated highway corridor. During this period, the traffic will alternatively flow this stretch through the internal B B Borkar Road till the Shivaji junction behind Mall De Goa.

PWD executive engineer Jude Carvalho said that there is a need for phase-wise closure of certain stretches of the highway to facilitate hindrance-free and speedy completion of the work and considering the safety of commuters.

He said that suitable and safe access will be provided at designated locations during this time for local residents and establishments on the closed NH-66 stretch.

“At present, the contractor has completed five to six spans on the Mapusa side of the Porvorim elevated corridor project and has completed 16 spans on the Porvorim side. The work is progressing at a good speed by the contractor and as per the expected schedule. Now the road closure from O’Coqueiro junction to Mall De Goa is necessitated to install 15 spans of 45m each,” Carvalho told TOI.

He said that each span of the elevated corridor is made up of up to 17 segments and each segment weighs 120 tonnes. Therefore, Carvalho said, it is a safety hazard for commuters if the road is not closed when this work is on.

“When the segments are suspended, it is not safe for commuters to pass from below, so we decided to take up the closure despite some suggestions to allow the traffic to keep moving on the stretch. We cannot risk it. We have kept the closure for the bare minimum days required so that commuters are not inconvenienced. The more the project extends, the more it will cost unnecessarily. Suspending work will not help either. There is no season in Porvorim when there is no traffic. There was congestion even before the work started. There is not going to be any slow period traffic-wise,” said Carvalho.

Rajasthan-based RRSM Infra are the contractors for the project.

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