Goa is expected to be the next laboratory of the central government to generate power from tidal waves of the sea using Israeli technology.
"Since last two years, I have been constantly pursuing whether we can generate power using tidal waves in the sea. Today, I came to know that we can start experimenting this by using Israeli technology which will help generate power using tidal waves," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told a gathering here in the presence of Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar.
Hinting that the project would be set up in Goa, Gadkari said, "It will be cheap, and green power is very important for our green initiatives."
The the Union Transport Minister also appealed to Parsekar to try and work out means to shift existing transport from conventional to green fuel.
"There are a lot of initiatives which are taken by the Union government. The government is very much committed towards ecology and environment. As far as transport is concerned, we have decided to shift to green fuel. We have already two electric buses in Delhi," he said.
"Goa is a very beautiful state. The way development is happening in Goa, we should be very cautious about the ecology. In Nagpur, we have tried experimenting with green fuel. Goa should take more initiative to protect environment. It is time to make Goa transport run on green fuel.We are there to support any initiative to protect the environment," Gadkari said.
Stating that his ministry has been providing all possible support to the Goa government, Gadkari added, "In last three months, we have sanctioned a lot of schemes. In next two years we will be completing works of more than Rs 20,000 crore for Goa including parallel bridge on Zuari and various roads.
The government has sanctioned Rs 120 crore for dredging
of Zuari and Mandovi rivers, to off load the transport from roads to inland waterways, he said.
"We are giving grant for the improvement of jetties. Goa government can give us the proposal, we will sanction it. The inland waterway development will be very much helpful for the people of Goa, tourists and transport of iron ore," he said.
Gadkari said that since the Narendra Modi government took over, the highway length in Goa has almost doubled up from 240 km in 2014 to 597 km now.
"The Chief Minister has already requested me to have an eight-km highway connecting the proposed Mopa airport in North Goa. I have already sanctioned that. The cost will be bore by our ministry," he said, adding, "Whatever the Goa government has demanded, we have completed."
Gadkari also said that a model cruise terminal will be built in Goa to encourage tourism.
"At present, Goa gets 20 cruise ships. Our request is to increase the capacity and we are planning for it. For that, a cruise terminal building is being constructed and work on it would be completed by December 2016. It would be of international standard with all kind of facilities," he added.
