On your future trip to Goa, you will have an absolutely new city on your tour list as the Goa government is planning to develop a parallel city at a short distance from Panjim. This new city will be along the lines of Mumbai’s Navi Mumbai township, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister on Wednesday. The CM mentioned this news at a function organized by the state government-run Economic Development Corporation. This new parallel city will be developed in the Merces village, which shares its boundaries with Panjim city’s land borders.
Upcoming increment in the tourism potential of the state
“The next parallel city to Panaji will be in Merces and it will be an attraction. It will be like Mumbai and Navi Mumbai,” the CM was quoted saying. Further he added that the corporation will be anchoring government efforts to develop the parallel city. The state capital, Panaji, is administered by one civic corporation in Goa and it has a population of around 1.14 lakh spread over 76 sq kms.
The announcement of the new parallel city comes at a time when the state has witnessed large scale in-migration. This has resulted in rampant urbanization especially in and around the state’s tourism friendly coastal belt and already existing townships like Margao, Vasco, Mapusa, Ponda, etc. It will be interesting to see the development of this new city which is yet to be named and this will definitely increase the tourism potential of the state. Moreover, it can be safely assumed that there will also be increased employment opportunities for the migrants and the residents of the state.
