Bastora underpass to miss yet another deadline

the goan I network
MAPUSA
The Bastora overbridge/underpass along the NH17, which was expected to be thrown open to traffic by the year end is set to miss yet another deadline, inconveniencing motorists and commuters. It is now expected to be ready by March next year.
Work on the project, which is a part of the national highway expansion plan, started in January 2016 and was expected to be completed within 15 months - by June 2017. Then, the projected completion date was pushed to December 2017.
"Two factors led to the delay - monsoon and high water retention, as the area we are working on is marshy land. It's now scheduled to complete by March 2018," said A K Sadanand, Assistant Engineer, PWD (highways).
The Rs 29.42 crore overbridge/underpass is expected to give huge relief to people living in Aldona and adjoining villages from the constant traffic chaos at the Bastora junction.
"During the monsoon, the work had almost come to a standstill. The slow work and the poor condition of the service roads in the monsoon caused immense hardship to people living in Aldona. The government should ensure the project is completed soon," said Mahesh Satelkar, a member of Moira panchayat.
The project has faced some hurdles since its inception. Initially, work was delayed due to time taken to shift utility services like the water pipelines and electricity poles.
Bastora Sarpanch, Savio Martins acknowledged that initially the work on the project was slow but claims that off-late, it has picked up.
He said people were mostly complaining, and rightly so, because of the bad condition of the service roads.
"In fact, now there is no congestion at the junction and traffic movement is become smooth. Once the service roads are hot-mixed, things will improve," Martins said.
The total length of the overbridge is 20 mts with a 6-lane span along the highway while the 6-metre high underpass will be 4-laned for vehicular movement along the Aldona-Mapusa route.

Service roads repaired
MAPUSA: The National Highway authorities completed the patch up work of the badly damaged service roads at the Bastora junction one day before Diwali, giving huge relief to motorists and commuters.
During monsoon, the service road, particularly on the Bastora side, had gone bad making it almost unmotorable.
"We have carried out repairs of the service roads on top priority. Now, there won't be a problem for traffic movement," said A K Sadanand, Assistant Engineer, PWD (highways).
The opposition Congress had demonstrated against the badly damaged service roads, while some public-spirited citizens had raised the issue on social media.