Goa govt to restart work on dedicated mining transport corridors

Anticipating resumption of mining before the monsoon, the Goa government plans to restart construction of now shelved dedicated mining transport corridors involving Rs 500 crore investment.

"We were already working on it (dedicated mining transport corridor) but we had to halt it because of the mining ban. We now plan to restart it when the mining starts and the ban gets lifted," a top official in the Goa government said.

As per the plan, the proposed four lane transport corridor will be constructed in two phases -- Uguem to Guddemol covering 10 km and Gudemol to Capxem jetty, another 10 km in the mining belt of south Goa.

The government has already acquired the land for construction of the first phase of the corridor.

The corridor is planned to skirt the crowded Sanvordem –Curchorem areas that have suffered heavy traffic due to iron ore laden trucks and its attendant dust and accident problems for many years.

"The idea is to have independent roads, which can take from point of extraction to jetty or export point, so that people does not get impacted by mining or troubled by the dust and noise created by the mining industry," the official said.

He further said the project will require about Rs 500 crore investment. "The plan is to build the corridors on government funds only but recovery of the money will ultimately will come from the mining industry," he said.

Since October, 2012, mining in Goa is banned due to a Supreme Court order as the apex court is hearing a petition on alleged illegal mining in the state. The ban followed Justice M B Shah Commission report which assessed the loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining at Rs 35,000 crore.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had said early this month that he expects lifting of ban by March, after which mining can resume by June in Goa.

"Lifting of ban will... I am hoping that this should happen by month-end or beginning of next month," he had said, while ruing that the ban has led to te state losing 10 per cent of its GDP growth in the last one and a half years.

Miners in Goa, through industry association GMOEA, have already started implementing sustainable mining framework expecting lifting of ban soon, Sesa Sterlite's Executive Director (Iron Ore Business) P K Mukherjee had said earlier this month at a TERI round table on sustainability.

Many measures are being taken by Goa miners so that common man does not get hassled by mining, he had said, while hoping that construction of transport corridors will further reduce the problems.

"Need of the hour for the industry is to work pro-actively towards implementation of sustainable mining framework, so that there are enough resources left for future generations," he had said.