Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has highlighted a major lapse in Goa’s industrial planning, noting that land acquired at a cost of Rs 70.45 crore for the expansion of Shiroda Industrial Estate has remained unused for nearly six years, generating neither industrial activity nor employment.
According to the CAG report for the year ending March 2023, tabled in the Assembly, the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) proposed in May 2013 the acquisition of 1,87,825 square metres of land at Shiroda village for Phase-II expansion, citing insufficient space to meet demand from entrepreneurs. The Industries Department processed the proposal, obtained necessary approvals, and requested the North Goa Collector to initiate land acquisition.
The Land Acquisition Officer fixed compensation at Rs 70.45 crore in October 2015, with 1,79,939.61 sqm belonging to M/s Vedant Real Estate Developers and the remaining 7,885.39 sqm owned by 11 other parties.
However, in September 2016, GIDC raised concerns that the high compensation would lead to prohibitively high land premiums, discouraging potential industrial investors. Despite repeated warnings from GIDC and the Directorate of Industries, Trade and Commerce (DITC), the government approved the acquisition in February 2018. Land possession was handed over to GIDC in August 2018.
CAG noted that, had the acquisition proceeded at the awarded cost, land premiums at Shiroda would have been around Rs 10,530 per sqm—almost five times higher than the highest premium at Verna Industrial Estate—making the plots unaffordable for entrepreneurs. Consequently, the land has remained idle for six years, defeating the very purpose of the acquisition.
