PANAJI: Four artificial lakes will be created within the new campus of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Goa, which is presently under construction in Cuncolim, director Gopal Mugeraya said. 

“These four artificial lakes will act as ground recharge points and will help improve the groundwater levels in surrounding areas,” Mugeraya said at the sixth annual convocation of the institute on Monday. 

Mugeraya said the new campus would be ready for use within a year’s time. He said the central PWD is carrying out the work on the new campus using prefabricated material, which will enable the work to be completed within a shorter period of time. 

“The permanent campus will be built on 120 acres at Cuncolim,” Mugeraya said, adding it would be a green campus with a built-up area of 7 lakh sq m. 

"We are planting more than 3,000 trees including mango, amla and sandalwood on the new campus premises,” he said. 

He said the new campus will have a capacity for 2,200 students. NIT is currently functioning from its temporary campus within the Goa Engineering College’s complex at Farmagudi, Ponda. 

Paying tribute to the former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, under whose tenure NIT was allotted the land and who laid the foundation stone for the new campus, Mugeraya said, “It was the dream of Parrikar to make Goa an educational hub of India. Goa is attracting many students and we are sure Goa’s ambience will make his dream come true very soon." 

He said the institute is now aiming to improve its rank from the current 77 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the Union education ministry. "The institute’s target is to feature within the top 50 institutes in the country," he said. 

He said that seven MoUs have been signed by the institute in the past four years to carry out various specialised research projects. 

Mugeraya also said 34 projects worth Rs 52 crore have been taken up by NIT Goa faculty, and many of the projects are funded by the Centre.