After 4 years, Smart City opens Tonca road with open pits and no footpaths

Panaji: The 200-metre stretch from Taad Maad to the Tonca sewage treatment plant (STP) has been opened — after a long delay — for vehicular traffic, even as workers and engineers scramble to put the finishing touches.Though the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) said that the road was completed, some sections of the footpaths remain incomplete, with paver blocks yet to be placed. Open pits, gravel, and other construction materials are visible along the stretch.Street lighting is also yet to be completed. Debris, metal barricades, sewerage pipelines, and cement blocks remain strewn along the stretch.The IPSCDL said that the construction of the concrete road at St Inez is complete and that it met the high court mandated deadline of May 31.“The road was re-laid using high-grade, durable concrete, with the addition of footpaths for pedestrians. With the project now complete, the new road is fully traffic-ready,” said an IPSCDL official. “That will facilitate smoother vehicular movement, improved stormwater drainage, and safer passage for both motorists and pedestrians.”Travelling on the St Inez Road to Tonca and the Caculo mall junction stretch became a nightmare for residents and commuters after IPSCDL decided to dig up the Taad Maad junction around four years ago.

“The road is now open to the public, representing a key milestone in Panaji’s ongoing infrastructure transformation under the Smart City Mission,” the IPSCDL official said.IPSCDL got the contractors to hurriedly clear up the challenging 200-metre stretch, which emerged as a “focal point” of the Smart City Mission, particularly the sewerage renovation project.The sewerage network required extensive underground utility works, including the installation of a 710-mm diameter trunk sewerage line at the Taad Maad junction. However, the new sewerage line has yet to be connected to the Tonca STP, with work nearing completion.“The new sewerage line was laid in a manner that ensures the existing line remains intact and fully functional. Once the new line is connected to the STP and commissioned, the old line will become redundant,” an IPSCDL engineer said.