Dears,
Please read the well argued posting by Philip Thomas that appeared in the
Goanet. The Times of India has reported the demand of Bangaloreans to retain
the HAL-owned airport for civilian use. Similar requests are coming from other
cities like Hyderabad and Kochi [Cochin]. Perhaps, even Delhi may join in.
Mumbai does enjoy the TWO airports privilege.
The airport fees or UDF can be more than the "cheap fares" by airlines. An
airport in Sindhudurg causing the stoppage of Dabolim for civilian use on
economic grounds is a real possibility .... like the sealing of small shops in
Delhi to increase the business of shopping malls or the KTC shuttle service
killing the "share taxi" business in Mapusa, Panaji and Margao. Vested
interests can come in different forms. Soon both "Matka" and prostitution
[perhaps even drug trade] will be replaced by the floating Casinos for the
high-end users.The term "floating population" will be re-defined in the Mandovi
river and Goa's Marinas.
Mog asundi.
Miguel
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 07:51:08 +0530
From: "Philip Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
About six weeks ago the Goa government formally wrote to the Civil
Aviation Ministry that it was opting for two airports in the state. This has
rendered the old political slogans of "Dabolim for ever, Mopa never" and "Never
say never to Mopa" absolutely redundant. The new slogan could well be: "It
takes two airports to tango in Goa".
The support for this stand has come from the ICAO which after a year's
deliberation concluded that airports like Mopa neednt be based solely
on economics but needed to take social and political imperatives into
account also. This pointed the way to two airports in Goa and the state
government has duly recommended the two-airport option to the civil aviation
ministry.
This is consistent with the latter's conception of having an airport in
every Indian district. So Goa could proactively seek to be a laboratory
for this concept with one airport (Mopa) in North Goa and one (Dabolim
civil enclave) in South Goa .
The problem is that this has never been done so far in India to our
knowledge. In the case of Kochi, Bangalore and Hyderabad the civil
aviation ministry gave undertakings to the private developers that the civil
enclaves would close. Now people in Bangalore and Hyderabad are realizing that
there will be serious problems of traveling great distances over inconvenient
routes to catch flights from the new airports. To add insult to injury
high User Development Fees (UDFs) of the order of Rs700-Rs1000 which were
also agreed to in advance, are likely to be levied on each outgoing ticket.
These are the main ways to enable these white elephants to be viable.
So designing and running Mopa and Dabolim airports, in tandem (as a
"system"), without common ownership, will be a pioneering exercise. It
has to be done right, that too over a span of at least 20-25 years.
Otherwise, it might put Dabolim civil enclave out of business and the latter
will
close in a matter of a few years at the most after Mopa goes onstream, with
the former reverting to the military.
Alternatively, Mopa will remain stunted and air travel to and from Goa
will continue to be at the mercy of the military at Dabolim. So there has to
be upgradation and modernisation at Dabolim and, simultaneously,
"calibrated growth from a standing start" at Mopa. All this requires an active
and sensible involvement of Goa government in what is after all a key
infrastructural system (i.e. of two airports) in the state. This would
be uncharted territory for Goa government, to put it mildly.
One challenge it may encounter at a very early stage is the threat to
locate the new airport at Sindhudurg. This must be countered vigorously by the
state government. Maharashtra government is unlikely to pay much heed
to Goa's need to keep Dabolim civil enclave open for historical and practical
reasons. It will just go ahead and build a big airport with private
money and the developer will ask for Dabolim to be closed (except for VIP
flights) and the civil aviation ministry will abjectly agree. Or else the new
Sindhudurg airport will be such as to put Dabolim out of business in
the normal course. The end result will be the same -- Goa will not have ANY
airport of its own in five to ten years. That would not be a good
thing for the state and its people in the 21st century.
The two airport problem requires a non-partisan approach on the part of
our politicians, or at least a bi-partisan one by the two big national
parties. They have to bury their political differences on the issue for the
sake
of the state's long term welfare. Long term does not mean 10, 20 or 30
years LATER. It means doing things NOW, and in a steady stream of sensible
and timely actions, for 20-30 years and, ideally, for all time.
So the planned question should, at the very least, be re-phrased to
enquire how MP would implement the two Goan airport option, which has been
officially recommended to the civil aviation ministry. Remember, Mopa
must take root and grow (to relieve Dabolim) and Dabolim must never close
(due to Mopa). That's the new mantra.
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