Govt to amend Highway Act to overcome hurdles

Party consent to acquire land will no longer be needed

Panaji: The Goa government has decided to amend the Goa Highway Act, 1974, which will now have a provision according to which consent of private parties will not be required for acquisition of land for expansion of roads.

Minister for Public Works Nilesh Cabral informed on Friday that the state cabinet has granted approval for modification of the Goa Highway Act, 1974, which will be introduced in the upcoming session of the Goa legislative assembly.

“With the existing law, we are facing a lot of hurdles for acquiring land for expansion of roads. In order to overcome these hurdles in road expansion in the state, the government has decided to do away with private party consent and, in turn, we will pay compensation to the affected parties three to four times more than the market rate,” he said.

Cabral said the government will incorporate provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

He said this will be done to pay three to four times more than the market rate as compensation to the affected parties.

“It is not possible to acquire land for expansion of roads by taking consent from the private land owners. Therefore, we are going to amend the existing Goa Highway Act, 1974, which will do away with consent from the private owners for land acquisition,” he said.