Margao: In March 2024, chief minister Pramod Sawant, while inaugurating a four-lane bridge at Hodar, publicly assured Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral that pending development projects in the constituency — including a sports complex, Ravindra Bhavan annexe, bus stand and library complex — would be completed within three years. With the deadline approaching in 2027, state govt’s own reply to a legislative assembly question shows that several projects remain far from completion.The reply, tabled in response to an unstarred question by Cabral and answered by Sawant in his capacity as finance minister, details the status of projects being executed by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) in Curchorem.The Ravindra Bhavan Phase II project received administrative approval in 2014 with a stipulated completion date of March 2017. However, delays pushed the completion date. The reply, tabled on Sep 1, lists Aug 31 as the likely completion date and states that the project is 99 per cent complete.The bus stand has made little progress. It received administrative approval on June 3, 2020, with a technical sanction of Rs 40 crore against an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore. At a review meeting chaired by Sawant with Cabral on June 15 this year, GSIDC was directed to float the tender by July 15, 2026.The sports complex was sanctioned in Aug 2012, but tenders were floated only in June this year.The Rs 40 crore library complex, which Cabral had said he would fight hardest for after being dropped from the Pramod Sawant cabinet in 2023, does not figure among the projects listed in the reply.Govt attributed delays in the Ravindra Bhavan annexe to COVID-19 disruptions, redesign of the tensile roof structure, additional works including a flagpole and murals, and the contractor’s non-performance. A Rs 5 crore proposal for stage lighting and audio-visual equipment at the amphitheatre has been pending with the directorate of art and culture since May 2025, despite four reminders from GSIDC.Minutes of the June 15 review meeting show Sawant directing GSIDC to complete the mural work and provide only basic lighting at Ravindra Bhavan by July 31, a scaled-down version of the facilities originally envisaged.With the 2027 polls approaching, the incomplete projects have provided Cabral’s rivals with an opportunity to target him over the delay.
