Panaji, Mar 30 (IANS): Goa is looking to emulate Greek holiday capital Mykonos, with the Town and Country Planning Ministry planning to incentivise use of traditional colours to paint the facades of their homes and commercial projects, Minister Vijai Sardesai said on Wednesday.

Sardesai told IANS that both home owners as well as promoters of commercial projects, could be given realistic incentives as part of a blanket policy, which would help to change the way Goa looks and help shape its unique identity in the 50th year of the state's historical opinion poll when it decided to become a separate state instead of merging with Maharashtra.

"Goa needs to at least look unique in the 50th year of its historic Opinion Poll. Goa can be like a Mykonos. We could incentivise single home owners and commercial projects to use traditional Goan colors like blue, red, green to paint the facades of their respective constructions," he said.

He said that commercial project promoters could be offered incentives in form of floor area ratio concessions and home owners could be offered blanket benefits as part of a policy, which was in the process of being formulated.

Mykonos is a popular Greek island, where it is mandatory for residents to paint their homes in white colour with a blue fringe.

The Minister also said that homes and construction projects which were coming up in Goa, hardly had any local ethos.

"This needs to stop. Goa is losing its character due to architecture which is not in sync with the state's ethos. This is our chance to visibly shape its identity," Sardesai said.