I forgot to mention in my earlier mail that I come to understand that the meetings were held at State Pollution Control Board in connection with the St Ines Creek pollution work and not for the roadside concrete work. I am sure they will do the best in this regard.
Stephen Dias D.Paula On 5 February 2014 07:27, Stephen Dias <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Nandkumar Kamat, > > We all have to wait and see after this monsoon season the whole > Miramar road being vanished for the poor work undertaken by PWD. How > many times this road is being done? You have rightly pointed out about > the abandonment of a 3 kms concrete roadside drain between Miramar to > Caranzalem which is being dumped with garbage etc and all great > dignitaries like present Mayor, Governor/s and all the Ministers who > comes to Raj Bhavan , passes almost everyday in this road and nobody > is interested to know what to do with the roadside drainage. What > kind of wastage done by the authorities? It is only the residents of > D.Paula, Caranzalem and Miramar are the most sufferers. > Thank You for the article. Now I was told a new exercise is being > mooted out by the State Pollution Control Board where the meetings > were already taken place and the people may see soon the future course > of action I believe. > > Stephen Dias > D.Paula > > QUOTE:= > > Miramar's Experiment With Concrete Road > > Published on: February 2, 2014 - 23:39 > > More in: > > Opinion > > By Nandkumar M Kamat > > Public memory is short and it always helps the hawkish politicians. > People have forgotten the abandonment of a three km long concrete > roadside drain between Miramar to Caranzalem. It is now used to dump > garbage. > > The one who designed it went unpunished. It is the only such three km > long modern RCC drain in the world without any planned outfall. No > accountabilities were ever fixed for this novel experiment in urban > drainage design. The cost for this abandoned experiment was just > Rupees Three crore. > > No questions have been raised about the abandonment of Mala Lake > Beautification project, a disastrous experiment in low lying khazan > wetland mischievously sold by some designers to the government. Are > citizens in Panaji affected by the ghastly and ghostly concrete > apparition of the incomplete NGPDA Mala market project? > > These twin abandoned projects are masterpieces for students of urban > political economy. On this background citizens need to be ready to > welcome the interesting novel signature project of this development > friendly regime. Probably by end of this year Goans would be able to > see a miracle in Miramar - the road named after Dr Jack De Sequeira > getting fully concretised. > > The road is likely to serve as a permanent field testing laboratory > for engineers and experts in such technology. Students of civil > engineering can do research on its durability. Although a bit > expensive, it is a wonderful experiment to test the effect and impact > of corrosive, humid, coastal saline environment on durability of the > brand new concrete road. The seaward monsoon stormwater flow of a vast > hinterland area from Nagali, Taleigao to Miramar crosses this road. > Its construction had extinguished several sand dunes and old drainage > canals. Whether the stormwater would continue to flow over the > concrete road before seeping in the beach or would flood the > hinterland due to elevation of the road would have to be seen. > > As compared to bituminous roads, concrete roads need elevation in > designing so if GSIDC aims to make it an anti flooding road cum > elevated embankment then it would be beneficial for protection of the > low lying hinterland area from future stormwater surges. One thing is > certain- the new concrete road can't be built at existing level. It > would be perhaps the most expensive elevated urban road in history of > Goa built at the cost of Rs 15 to 20 crore per kilometer, unless there > are other unannounced works associated with the design to justify such > heavy cost. > > The GSIDC website is silent about details of this experiment. It is > to the credit of GSIDC and the government of Goa that despite > shortfall in state revenue, funds were found for this historic > experiment. Although citizens would have welcomed a little more > transparency over the genesis of the idea of concretisation, we can > get some necessary information ourselves from elsewhere. For example > we have, J B Sengupta, the head of department of rigid pavement > division, CRRI on record in defense of concrete roads. According to > him, the average lifespan of a bitumen road is three to four years and > such roads fare badly during waterlogging. > > Concrete roads last for at least 20 to 25 years and waterlogging > makes these stronger as it improves concrete compactness. It only > requires more care during the first month. Although experts say that > it costs Rupees Six crore per kilometer to build a concrete road, the > tender floated by GSIDC on January 30, 2014 under item B lists the > work of "Construction of Concrete Pavement Road and other development > from Miramar Circle to NIO Circle and Raj Bhavan" quoted at Rs > 60,87,76,106. > > People are not opposed to concrete roads for the sake of opposition. > A big lobby of road contractors was unhappy when Goa switched to roads > with hot mix carpets. A small lobby of electric equipment suppliers > was unhappy when Goa undertook underground cabling projects for High > Tension electric conductors. So the expensive Miramar to Raj Bhavan > concrete road experiment needs to be seen as one of the most ambitious > project before the state switches over to this new technology. It has > become impossible for state PWD to maintain and repair the roads. The > state government has shown that it can always find funds for such > novel experiments while some old projects could wait. > > GSIDC could identify Rupees 61 crore for Miramar road concretisation > experiment but forgot that there is something more challenging in the > same area - the ecorestoration of Nagali River which is identified > within CCP area in estuarine section as Santa Inez creek. The Santa > Inez creek ecorestoration project estimated at Rs 27 crore prepared by > WAPCOS was sent under JNNURM and has got stuck at New Delhi. Why GSIDC > could not take up the whole work and find funds for this more > important project? > > The creek does not belong to CCP but comes under water resources > department. WRD stopped the normal, natural tidal flow in this creek > during 2000-2002 by raising bed level near INOX outfall and again in > 2010-11 near Bal Bhavan arm. The stagnation of water deprived of > Oxygen has made this creek a toxic gas chamber. From its outfall near > INOX to Camrabhat, Tonca, the creek is generating dangerous and toxic > gases like Hydrogen Sulphide, Methane and Ammonia. The aquifer has > become polluted with black Iron Sulphide and well water has become > unusable. If the new shoals opposite INOX waterfront and the barrier > behind indoor stadium, Campal are removed the Oxygen rich high tide > would then flush the creek. More than expensive beautification of this > creek channel and encroached banks, restoration of age old tidal > circulation while caring for living natural benthos is more important. > > We can see the contradiction Rs 61 crore are made readily available > for a new experiment at Miramar but tragically no state funds for > Santa Inez creek. This is the developmental diversionary trajectory > capital city of Panaji may follow in future with misguided, lopsided > priorities creating expensive patches of concretised beauty to mask > the rape of age old natural urban life support systems such as Santa > Inez creek. Miramar is now in all smiles while Santa Inez weeps.
