Viewing gallery in Goa to be better tourist spot than Eiffel Tower: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the proposed viewing gallery on the upcoming bridge on the Zuari river in Goa will be a better tourist attraction than the renowned Eiffel Tower in Paris in France.

The bridge, which is coming up parallel to an existing one on Panaji-Margao highway, is expected to be completed by September next year, but attempts are under way to open at least one lane before that, the Union minister for road transport and highways said. “The work on the Zuari bridge is going on. We have planned a viewing gallery by constructing two towers as part of this bridge. It will be a better tourist attraction than the Eiffel Tower. It will have a restaurant and art gallery besides special spaces for small-time vendors to sell arts and crafts,” Gadkari said.

Addressing a function to inaugurate the link of the national highway between Loutolim and an industrial estate located at Verna in South Goa, Gadkari said there will be parking space beneath the bridge, and people could arrive even in boats.

Gadkari also said work on the Mumbai-Goa national highway will be completed in the next one-and-half years, adding that difficulties encountered in some of the packages have now been addressed.

He said it was the dream of former Goa chief minister late Manohar Parrikar to create such infrastructure in the state and projects he had proposed were now being completed.

The bridge on Mandovi river, which was inaugurated before Parrikar died (in March 2019), was being used by 66,000 vehicles every day, which had reduced traffic jams in Panaji.

Projects worth Rs 12,000 crore had been implemented in Goa since 2014, Gadkari added.

Referring to the under-construction Mopa Airport, Gadkari said his ministry would complete a connector road at cost of Rs 1,200 crore.