PONDA: Ponda Municipal Council’s long-delayed one-plus-four building complex, initiated in 2011, was finally completed last month but remains unopened as it awaits a completion certificate from the South Goa Planning and Development Agency (SGPDA).PMC chief officer Bhimnath Khorjuvekar said the complex would be commissioned once the certificate is issued. “Once the PDA issues the certificate; we will soon commission the project,” he said.The PMC will auction the commercial spaces only after the certificate is received. “We will auction the project spaces only after the completion certificate is received,” Khorjuvekar said.The project was among those sanctioned under a scheme in which the then Congress govt allocated Rs 2 crore to each constituency in 2011 to mark the Golden Jubilee of Goa’s Liberation.The complex has had a long and chequered construction history, including two foundation-stone ceremonies. Then minister Ravi Naik laid the first foundation stone on December 19, 2011. After his defeat in the 2012 assembly elections, PWD minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar laid another on May 19, 2014.Work progressed slowly and only the RCC structure had been completed by 2021. The PMC subsequently decided to change the contractor and re-tendered the remaining work. The Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) allotted the work to a new contractor.Construction gained momentum but was halted again in 2022 after the contractor sought a Goa Schedule of Rates (GSR).Over the years, the PMC also revised the project design to include two small multiplexes, a cafeteria or food park and parking facilities.After nearly 15 years, the construction is now complete, with its commissioning dependent on the SGPDA certificate.
