Road works worth Rs 20 cr to be taken up in every constituency 

PANAJI: Minister for Public Works Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar on Monday said the government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore for each  constituency for taking up road works. 

Speaking to media persons  on Monday at the Secretariat, Dhavalikar said that as part of the  first phase work orders for road works worth Rs 15 crore for each  constituency will be issued by September 15.

“In the first phase, road works worth Rs 15 crore  will be taken up  in every constituency by October 1, and hotmixing of roads will start from November

15,” said Dhavalikar, who resumed office on Monday after recovering from illness,  adding that the works worth around Rs 12, 500 crore  on national highways are in progress in the state.

Another amount of Rs 12, 000 crore will be sanctioned by the central government soon for works on roads and bridges in the state.

“Under the Bharat Mala project 120 kilometres of roads – from Panaji to Belagavi via Chorla Ghat – will be fourlaned…” he added.

Speaking on water supply, Dhavalikar  said  the government has set target to bring down ‘non-revenue’ water below 20 per cent in the next five years: the non-revenue water currently stands between 25 per cent to 30 per cent.

According to him, at present  there is around 170 MLD of net loss of water per day, which incurs the loss of Rs 9.5 per cubic metre of water.

“Earlier, non-revenue water was above 40 per cent; but now we have succeeded in bringing it down between 25 per cent to 30 per cent after the Japan International Cooperation Agency was roped in the state. A  team of young PWD engineers has been trained in Japan to check the loss of water,” he said, adding that all JICA works  will be completed by 2019.

The minister further said that currently works worth around Rs 550 crore  are going on across the state for improving  and expanding water supply infrastructure.

The works include the Rs 45-crore water treatment plant at Ganje-Usgao; the Rs 40-crore plant at Porvorim; the Rs 30-crore project at Chandel; the Rs 45-crore project in the Pernem industrial estate; the Rs 100-crore upkeeps  of Asnora, Dabos and Padoshe water treatment plants.