Vasco: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday announced a Maharashtra-to-Karnataka ring road, running along the outer edge of Goa, with an estimated cost of Rs 15,000 crore, aimed at decongesting the coastal tourism state.
Gadkari said he had received a demand from Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Union Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy Shripad Naik to build a ring road from the Maharashtra-Goa border to the Goa-Karnataka border, so that traffic currently flowing through Goa’s National Highways can be diverted.
He stated that his ministry is considering a ring road from Patradevi (a village on the Goa-Maharashtra border) to Karnataka, which will run along the outer periphery of Goa, rather than cutting through the middle of the state. This, he said, will help ease congestion on the National Highway.
Gadkari added that he has already urged the Goa Chief Minister to finalise the alignment of the road, which will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 12,000–15,000 crore.
The Union Minister was speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the observatory towers on the new Zuari Bridge in South Goa.
The project, which will be constructed on a Public Private Partnership basis, will include viewing towers, an observatory, a restaurant, and other facilities.
Gadkari said the twin-tower project is inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. “I had suggested that the tower should be like the Eiffel Tower, from where you can see Goa and the ocean,” he said.
He further announced that a second such tower project would be set up at Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh).
Gadkari noted that once completed, the towers in Goa would become an international attraction. “These towers will be famous across the world,” he said.
The Minister said that the state government could earn crores of rupees in revenue through GST collected from ticket sales to visit these towers.
He also suggested that a viewing gallery in one of the towers should exhibit the history of Goa’s liberation. “We should tell the history in a transparent manner using technology,” he added.
Speaking about other ongoing or upcoming infrastructure projects in Goa, Gadkari said:
-
Rs 1,200 crore will be spent on the four-lane road from Cuncolim to Benurdem in South Goa
-
Rs 2,000 crore on the four-lane road from the Karnataka border to Mollem
-
Rs 1,000 crore on the four-lane road between Mollem and Khandekar
-
Rs 1,200 crore for a new bridge across the Zuari at Borim village
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, addressing the gathering, thanked Gadkari for uplifting the state’s infrastructure during his tenure.
He also mentioned that the state would explore the introduction of water taxis to help reduce road congestion.
