With the MOPA airport set to commence operations soon, the government needs to take urgent and concrete steps to ease the major bottleneck from Porvorim to Guirim and ensure a free flow of traffic.
As the proposed flyover on that stretch may take a decade or more, the authorities need to widen this stretch on a priority within the permissible limits to facilitate movement of traffic. All the encroachments that have mushroomed within the road widening area must be swiftly cleared. There cannot be a pick and choose but action must be taken uniformly without showing any undue favour to those enjoying political patronage.Once this stretch is cleared it would facilitate and ease the travel time from North to South Goa.
If Mopa has been developed to boost connectivity between our State and the rest of the world, then it is incumbent on us to ensure that the scale of technology and infrastructure that we must build is unprecedented and effective. This very important necessity must ensure that the entire route from the airport to Panaji and the south and beyond is a welcoming experience for our visitors and locals alike, not an eye sore with air and noise pollution, endless traffic jams with crumbling infrastructure and bumpy roads and bridges adorned with craters. People are visiting what was once the pearl of the Orient, not the moon! The new technology and infrastructure must include state of the art clearly marked and visible road signs and a road traffic management system that works.
It is anguishing that despite the monsoons having ended, roads across Goa continue with potholes galore, a cause for many accidents and dangerous driving. The Government must take steps to monitor and ensure quality control in all the road works. Our roads need to last as public money cannot be poured down the drain. The Public Works Department cannot continue being a Public Waste Department.
