MULTY LAYERED CAR PARKING IN PANJIM

The multi-layered car parking, which was planned near the St Monica Jetty, behind Animal Husbandry building and which was meant to ease the growing parking problem has hit a roadblock as the area is said to be under institutional zone and the construction coverage is less, prompting the department to rethink on their plans.The state tourism department had drawn up a plan for integrated development of infrastructure for heritage and hinterland tourism in Goa and the multi layered parking was the part of the plan. However, according to the Director of Tourism Swapnil Naik, the project of multi layered parking is yet to get the green signal from the Planning and Development Authority.“The PDA has informed us that the area where the building is planned falls under institutional zone where only 33 per cent of coverage is permitted,” Naik told Herald. Having only 33 pc of area for construction will not serve our purpose as it will accommodate only 150 vehicles, which we already can accommodate without carrying out any construction, he said.“Hence we have asked the PDA for the change of zone,” he stated. The six-storied parking facility could solve the Parking woes near the Santa Monica jetty which is overcrowded in the evening.Each floor of the six-storied parking building, planned by department would accommodate 54 cars, Naik stated adding the building would also house ticket counters, food courts, rest rooms and other facilities on the ground floor. Meanwhile, while the PDA has halted the multi-layered parking project, it has approved three other tourism related projects.The Department of Tourism, through project consultant Lotus Environment, had proposed development of Panjim hub with development of Finger-shaped jetty to accommodate ships and a ship-shaped building, tourism information plaza designed to facilitate easy access of information to tourists, a Paryatan Bhavan' and an amphitheatre. “The PDA has approved the construction of Paryatan Bhavan, Finger-shaped jetty to accommodate ships and a ship-shaped building and the underpass below the new Patto bridges,” said Swapnil Naik.The director further said that the entire tourism department building will now be demolished for the construction of Paryatan Bhavan. He said that the tenders for the above works would be floated soon after the NOCs are obtained from various departments.“The project Cell of the GTDC is working on it in association with the consultants and once they get all documents we will start the tendering,” he said.The Central government has sanctioned Rs 43 crore for the above projects which also includes integrated circuit development for cultural heritage and backwater tourism