Goa govt dissolves Greater Panaji Planning & Development Authority

PANAJI: The Greater Panaji Planning and Development Authority (GPPDA), which had control over rapidly urbanising districts encircling the capital city such as Taleigao, Kadamba plateau, and Bambolim, has been abolished by the Town and Country Planning Board less than five years after it was established.

The GPPDA will no longer exist as of the notification date, according to Vishwajit Rane, Minister of Health, Government of Goa, who also noted that North Goa will now have just one authority, the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA), which is chaired by Jennifer Monserrate, MLA, Taleigao.

The NGPDA, led by Monserrate, will now have Panaji, Taleigao, Calangute, Candolim, Mapusa, and Bambolim planning areas under its control, according to Rane. Arpora, Nagoa, and Parra have been removed from the purview of planning areas. After all the laws and regulations are established, the Kadamba plateau area would be developed as a satellite township, according to Rane, who also added that all necessary consultations had taken place.

The Board had previously seen circumstances, where properties were partially covered by the Kadamba ODP (Official Development Plan) and the other portion fell under the purview of the TCP’s Tiswadi Taluka Office leading to the decision to omit the Kadamba plateau. Since the GPPDA was established in 2017–18 by late former Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar, Monserrate has served as its chair. He resigned in July 2019, along with nine other Congress MLAs to join the BJP after leaving to run in the Panaji byelection.