Goa’s water resources department has begun reconstructing a 10-km Portuguese-era canal at Bimbal-Shigao in Dharbandora to reduce seepage and leakage and improve irrigation access for more than 105 farmers.
Water Resources Department minister Subhash Shirodkar said the old canal had deteriorated over time, causing water to be lost before it reached farms. The reconstruction is intended to strengthen the canal infrastructure, improve its durability and support more efficient water management in the region.
The project will cost Rs 15.5 crore, state assembly speaker Ganesh Gaonkar said. The work has been allotted to Bagkiya Construction, a South Indian firm.
According to Gaonkar, the canal will carry water to Shirval, where another 105 farmers are expected to benefit. He said the project would continue supporting farmers for years and described it as part of the effort to strengthen irrigation infrastructure in Goa.
The canal is a legacy water system dating to the Portuguese period. Its reconstruction comes as the department seeks to address physical deterioration in an irrigation network that continues to serve agricultural users. The project’s immediate focus is to prevent water from leaking or seeping out along the canal’s route before it reaches the fields.
Shirodkar said the number of farmers using canal water should increase and encouraged landowners with sizeable holdings to consider farming as an alternative source of income. He cited his own coconut plantation at Shiv Shail hillock in Shiroda, where he said he receives an annual yield of around 6,000 coconuts.
The project places the canal’s condition at the centre of the region’s water-management challenge. For farmers, the value of the reconstruction will depend on whether the repaired system can deliver water more reliably across its 10-km route and reduce losses between the source and the agricultural areas it is meant to serve.
Water Resources Department superintending engineer Zibson Miranda, assistant engineer Sadanand Naik and junior engineer Sagar Naik were among the officials present at the site when the work began. The reconstruction will proceed under the department’s supervision, with the canal intended to serve farmers in Bimbal-Shigao and Shirval.
