Will Miramar meet Dona Paula in Sept?

Panaji: If officials are to be believed, the concrete Miramar-Dona Paula road will be ready by mid-September brining to an end the over two harrowing years of potholed roads and haphazard traffic, which made life hell for residents of Miramar, Dona Paula and Caranzalem.
Stating that the 72 crore-project to concretize the Dr Jack de Sequeira Road was nearly complete, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (GSIDC) officials said that the road would soon be motorable, reducing the stress on the internal Caranzalem-Dona Paula road.
“The last stretch of about 15 metres is left, and should be complete by August 15. The pavement will take a little time as the special pavers ordered are delayed,” a GSIDC official said.
Sources said that the road to Raj Bhavan and to the Dona Paula jetty will also be completed and that the entire stretch will be thrown open for traffic by mid-September.
Initially, GSIDC had projected that the entire project would be ready within 18 months, but the project missed that deadline and then went on to miss five subsequent deadlines.
The previous deadline was August 20, which itself was a revision of the May 2016 deadline.
GSIDC had taken up the project to concretize the 4.5-kilometre-long Miramar-Dona Paula road for a width of 11-metres, which included a 3-lane concrete road, a dedicated cycle track and beautification works that include pavements, benches, parking, street lights and landscaping.
According to GSIDC officials, the project could miss the August 20 deadline due to a delay in placing the order for the special paver tiles, which resemble granite slabs, for the pavement. The tiles had to be ordered and delivered from Bengaluru, the official said.
When TOI visited the site, workers were seen going about their work with no sense of urgency as would have been expected of a project that has missed its due date.
The repairs have caused tremendous inconvenience to local residents and motorists. Tourists also shied away from visiting the Dona Paula jetty as the road appeared as if hit by a landslide, and due to the lack of parking space around the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) circle.
The 2.5metre-wide cycle track will be cast in concrete with a layer of rubber coating on the surface. The road will have underground ducts on both sides for utility cables. In the future, the road will not be dug up for laying any cables, GSIDC officials said.
The road from the Dona Paula NIO circle to the Dona Paula jetty will be laid with cobblestone paver blocks, officials said.
GSIDC recently concretized the Porvorim service road and opened it for traffic within a short span of 15 days, indicating that when required work can be completed within the stipulated duration.