<Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660 Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/
Goa's ready with plan for world-class airport PRANAB DHAL SAMANTA IN 9 YEARS: Check-in under 3 minutes, immigration in one, runway for A-380> [GOACAN, May 30] -------- This report sourced from the INDIAN EXPRESS may be a first rate punching bag for observers of the aviation scene in Goa! Almost every sentence can be trashed vigorously. The omission of the military status of Dabolim is probably the biggest blemish. And to think that it is based on a report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) of Montreal Canada! How did they ever come to such a sorry pass? Originally I was planning to issue a correction of the subject line of a previous post viz CAN GOA (REPEAT GOA) SHAPE MOPA ECONOMICS? It struck me after seeing a TV report about land scams that the right question would be CAN GOA SHAPE MOPA ECONOMICS -- FOR THE BETTER? This is because in the natural course of things, Goa (like most other Indian states) WILL undoubtedly shape the airport economics --FOR THE WORSE! Somehow we have to reverse this tendency for which maybe one solitary benchmark may be available. But more of this later. In a nut shell, the way airport economics apparently gets corrupted literally and figuratively is by the private investor asking for large parcels of land well beyond operational needs. The state government arranges for clearance of settlers usually at a pittance and then puts up the entire block as its share of the equity. The private investor then re-sells excess property usually for non-aeronautical purposes at high profit and cross subsidises the actual airport operation to make his money. The GOACAN post neatly sets up the basis for acquistion of gigantic parcels of land -- i.e. for a futuristic A380 airport! The fact that Goa has not had experience with a purely civilian airport (esp post liberation thanks to the Navy dropping anchor at Dabolim) is not considered a handicap in thinking big! Of course the time line is kept conveniently long so anything can happen in the interim. Usually people start with plans for tight schedules which then inevitably get stretched due to delays. So if we start with 9 years of phase I then the actual may turn out to be 15 or even 20 years! To cut a long story short I would seriously suggest that we keep in mind the successful history of Cochin International Airport (CIAL) as a useful benchmark for the planning of Mopa.
