Porvorim NH 66 stretch to stay open till 5-day Chovoth

Panaji: State govt on Monday postponed the closure of the NH 66 stretch in Porvorim, from O’Coqueiro restaurant to Mall De Goa, for vehicular traffic until the end of the five-day Ganesh festival. Chief minister Pramod Sawant said that within the next two days, potholes across the state will be filled.

Govt had planned to close the road until Jan 31, 2026, to facilitate work on the Porvorim elevated highway.

“We will not close the road till the end of the five-day Ganesh Chaturthi. After that, we will properly plan, and I have given instructions. I have directed the department to fill the potholes within two days. Due to continuous rain, it was difficult to fill potholes, and there have been new potholes due to the rain,” Sawant said.

Two lanes of the NH 66 on the O’Coqueiro to Mall De Goa stretch were planned to be shut down for all vehicular traffic from Aug 24, 2025, to Jan 31, 2026, for the “critical activity of launching of precast segments” of the Porvorim elevated highway corridor.

During this period, traffic will alternatively flow via 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, considering the safety of commuters.

At present, the contractor completed five to six spans on the Mapusa side of the Porvorim elevated corridor project and completed 16 spans on the Porvorim side.

The span of the elevated corridor is made up of up to 17 segments, and each segment weighs 120 tonnes. “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,” Carvalho said.

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

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