Many beautiful and old Portuguese-styled houses in Goa may be in a state of decay either for want of funds or due to disputes, but a member of the Indo-Portuguese Friendship Society hailing from Goa has suggested that these heritage structures could be turned into tourist sites with economic benefits.
LISBON
In his presentation at the day-long conference organised by Casa de Goa on ‘Sustainable development in Goa in the 21st century’ here recently, Taumaturgo Furtado discussed what the Indo-Portuguese Friendship society could do to preserve the Portuguese houses in Goa as well as protecting the property of Goans living abroad.
Incidentally, Furtado’s suggestions may have takers as Goa’s Town and Country Planing department has also unveiled plans to offer incentives to those who retain their old houses.
“Sadly, today, Goans consider their ancestral houses as white elephants. A burden to look after, the houses, though pretty, are very expensive to maintain,” said Furtado, who hails from Merces.
“With a little effort, these Portuguese houses in Goa can be converted into guest houses of international quality and rented out to upmarket tourists. Such type of rentals generate a lot of local employment and infuse life into the villages.”
“Portuguese houses can also be converted into boutiques selling clothes, handicrafts, restaurants and coffee shops etc.”
Furtado also identified the challenges to develop these Portuguese houses in Goa.
“A big problem for Goans owning any type of property is the rent control act
and in order to get over this problem, we need to form professionally managed companies to develop old Goan houses and subsequently rent them to tourists.”
“The Indo-Portuguese Friendship Society also needs to deal with the aspect of Goans losing their title to their ancestral properties in Goa. I would suggest forming of a professionally managed company to safeguard and even to get back properties which the Goan expatriates have lost,” said Furtado, whose great grand uncle, Caetano Xavier T. dos Remedios Furtado, was chief justice of the high court of Porto in 1920.
Furtado has also suggested the possibility of Goa and Portugal tying up to develop “social tourism”.
“By social tourism, I mean that Goans could give their vacant apartments to the Portuguese people and the Portuguese could reciprocate likewise.”
“The biggest difficulty in these types of exchanges is maintaining standards. You do not want to go to a house just because it is free and then be in for a rude shock.”
The Indo-Portuguese Friendship Society
could come in here in order to grade the accommodations available and work towards organizing accommodation for Portuguese visiting Goa at a discounted rate and vice versa,” suggested Furtado.
