Eighteen construction companies have submitted their bids to construct the elevated six-lane highway corridor at Porvorim, PWD minister Nilesh Cabral said on Sunday.
“The bids are being evaluated,” Cabral told TOI. “Those who qualify for the technical bids can qualify for the financial bids.”
The tender, which was floated in June, states that the work will be worth Rs 474.6 crore and has to be completed within 24 months. PWD has cleared most of the encroachments along NH-66 for this construction.
The project is being funded by the Union government, which has sanctioned Rs 641.4 crore for its construction and approaches. The construction may create a traffic nightmare at Porvorim, but officials of various government departments are trying to figure out an alternate route to avoid congestion.
The elevated road is expected to be 5.2km-long, and the approaches will start at Sangolda junction at one end and the NeoMajestic hotel at the other.
In the highway improvement work taken up in Goa from Patradevi to Bambolim, the Porvorim stretch is the last part yet to be widened. A case over land acquisition for the six-lane highway on stilts at Porvorim was pending before the Supreme Court, due to which expansion on only this stretch could not take place, leading to traffic bottlenecks. This bottleneck issue was earlier raised by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry before Cabral while highlighting the concerns of the logistics sector.
The elevated highway project is expected to resolve the traffic congestion along this section of the NH-66 leading to Panaji, as well as improve access to the Mopa airport.
The elevated corridor is part of the highway four/six laning being carried out on the Karaswada to Bambolim stretch. The entire four/six lane project, once complete, will allow vehicles to drive at a speed of 80-100kmph as against the current 40-60kmph.