If the Margao Municipality lacks funds to undertake the necessary development in the City, it could use some ingenuity in raising funds for development, though public financing. It's time the sleepy city of Margao awakened and its elected political representative do something more concrete than resort to sophistry and lip-service.
Why keep Margao ugly? By Brian Antao With Goa being selected as the permanent venue for the IFFI, the many benefits of which seem to go to only the city of Panjim. It is good that the Goa government has drawn up ambitious plans for giving the entire city of Panjim a face-lift and transformation to a modern metropolis. However, too much of the Goa government machinery has been inefficiently drawn into the IFFI preparations, that developments across the rest of Goa seem to have fallen by the way-side since. With Panjim being the electoral constituency of the CM, he has but a political vested-interest to appropriate development to his constituency to ensure his electability in the future. Traffic congestion in Margao is a severe problem, and the city is very much in need of four-lane roads and fly-overs built to good international standards. Is the Goa Government so limited in its capacity in being able to handle development in just one city? Margao, the commercial capital of Goa, which sadly has always received step-child treatment from the Goa government in terms of development, continues to do so. The so-called beautification program for Margao comes and goes depending on the whims of the Margao-based politicians who also have their fingers in the IFFI pie. So far, the only effort done to develop Margao, is in the form of the lip-service of the construction of the traffic islands, which too are lagging way behind their promised scheduled deadline for completion of August 15, 2003. If one were to critique the aesthetics of the traffic islands, one might say that the red- masonry architecture gives more of an incomplete look, and some more work needs to be done in terms of a better finish, something on the lines of the island near the Holy Spirit Church. A big eye-sore in the heart of Margao is the dilapidating condition of the Margao Municipal Garden, and the governmental buildings all around that are badly in need of a paint job. An immediate painting of these buildings must be undertaken and one must suggest the use of a higher quality weather-resistant paint that will ensure the longer-term benefit keeping up a good look. The Margao Municipality should also bring in a requirement that all structures in the key areas of the city be maintained by the owners with a fresh coat of paint through regular inspections and a stiff fine imposed for violators. This will ensure to some extent that the main parts of the city are well maintained year- round. While the City of Panjim has a plan in place for heritage restoration, why is that Margao lacks such a program? The outer facade of Hospicio Hospital is very much in need of a heritage restoration. If the Margao Municipality lacks funds to undertake the necessary development in the City, it could use some ingenuity in raising funds for development, though public financing such as offering an attractive Municipality development Bonds or starting a Margao City development Fund. It's time the sleepy city of Margao awakened and its elected political representative do something more concrete than resort to sophistry and lip-service all the time on this issue! -- The writer is based in Margao ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################