Goa floats Infra Dev Corporation

Sandesh Prabhudesai
12 January 2001  



Goa has decided to float a government-owned company, the Infrastructure Development Corporation, in order to clear a major bottleneck in the development of the tourist state.

Though a fully government enterprise, the corporation would take up several projects on BOOT basis, especially the ones which have been categorised as non-viable by the respective state departments.

"For example, I can now buy a bridge on instalments like we buy a TV or a refrigerator", says chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who has conceptualised the corporation. The government however is prepared to compensate some projects, if they really become non-viable.

It has been almost a decade now the tourist state is proposing private companies to take up several works on BOT or BOOT basis, but there has been hardly any response even to the tenders floated in this regard.

The immediate plans on the list of the government-owned company are at least eight to 10 bridges across several rivers, where people still commute through ferries. While floating tenders by March, he plans to complete these bridges by the year end.

The corporation however will also be monitored by a high power steering committee, headed by the chief minister, besides deputy chief minister and three to five more members. The works would be taken up only after the committee approves it.

Parrikar also plans to sign an MoU with the Maharashtra Road Development Corporation, to hire their knowledge and expertise by paying 15 per cent overheads over their consultancy cost. "It will help us expedite our works", he feels.

If the experiment succeeds, Parrikar then also plans to take up works of the district hospitals, city markets and even the bus stands in different areas. "The corporation would take up projects which the departments never ever visualised", says the chief minister.

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