MARGAO: To govern the town’s development, Margao will soon get a master plan. The Mumbai-based company appointed by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) is ready with the draft plan that will be presented to councillors at the Margao Municipal Council hall on January 17, chief officer Gaurish Shankhwalkar said.
A master plan functions as a compass for urban progress. It is a document that outlines a clear trajectory for future development, tailored to meet the present and future demands of an area. A similar exercise undertaken by the GSUDA in 2013-14 failed to take off the drawing board for undisclosed reasons.
Days before then CM Manohar Parrikar, moved out of Goa to take over the reins of the defence ministry, state government had decided to award the work of drawing a master plan for Margao to a Spain-based design firm. The groundwork for the planning process had also begun in earnest.
By October 2014, the engineers of the consultancy firm had paid four visits to Margao to understand the city’s developmental needs and provide inputs for the plan. The agency held interactions with various government authorities, such as the PWD (sewerage and water supply divisions), the South Goa Planning and Development Authority, the land survey department, and traffic police.
The change of guard at the state in November 2014 resulted in government relegating the master plan to the back-burner.
The completion of the ring road project, finding solutions for bottlenecks on the eastern bypass highway at Nuvem, construction of the Western Bypass from Verna to Navelim and a transport terminus on the outskirts of the town, development of green areas, and the creation of cycling tracks, pedestrian streets, and recreation zones were among the proposed concepts.
