Goa's Airport Situation by Brian Antao Goa's only airport situated in Dabolim has drawn quite a bit of debate, as the Indian Navy owns it. Apparently the Navy now wants full control of the airport leaving Goa with no airport for civilian transportation. We thought India was a full-fledged democracy, and one does not expect the Indian armed forces to usurp much needed civilian facilities for its military use. What are we to expect next? A Military coup a.k.a Pakistan with one of India's top military generals positioning himself as the new president of the country.
Goa is a thriving tourist, cultural and now a business hub. It is crucial for Goa to have a centrally located airport of international standards. And the current Dabolim airport is perhaps situated at the most optimal location in Goa, making it most accessible to Goans from all over the state. In addition there is a lot of surrounding land at the Dabolim airport that can be easily acquired to build on the core infrastructure and develop the airport into a full-fledged civilian international airport. The alternate plans that the Goa government has been mulling on building a new airport at Mopa, is not the best strategic solution. Firstly Mopa is situated at northern tip of the state, which will inconvenience majority of Goans in terms of accessibility. Besides this new airport in Mopa, which began on paper quite a few years ago, is still a pipe dream, and would involve a lot of expenditure from the state government exchequer. Goa has been selected as the permanent venue for the IFFI, but the central government has not really allocated much of a budget to the Goa government for developing infrastructure for hosting the IFFI, (except for the convention center) and most of the expenditure is coming from the state government. The CM needs to ask the Central government to at the very least cost-share in the expenses involved in building the permanent infrastructure for IFFI. In terms of the Goa airport situation, apparently the Goa government has acquired land at Mopa for building a new airport. Perhaps the best win-win situation would be for the Goa government to give the land acquired at Mopa to the Indian Navy and in exchange the Goa Government gets full control of the Dabolim airport and it is developed into a complete commercial airport. Whatever funds are earmarked for building a new airport at Mopa, can be better utilized at building a bigger international airport at Dabolim, as the core infrastructure already exists. Another incentive for the Navy to move its base to Mopa is that, the Dabolim location has already been in the public eye. At Mopa, the Indian Navy can build an ultra-modern facility that is secure and a top-secret one! __________________________________________________________________ Introducing the New Netscape Internet Service. Only $9.95 a month -- Sign up today at http://isp.netscape.com/register Netscape. Just the Net You Need. New! Netscape Toolbar for Internet Explorer Search from anywhere on the Web and block those annoying pop-ups. Download now at http://channels.netscape.com/ns/search/install.jsp ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
