Finally a ray of hope in the bleak managerial landscape of Goa! There is some basis for gaining traction instead of simply spinning wheels.
Chairperson of the Congress Coordination Committee, Margaret Alva, on a two day visit to Goa, "has made it clear that Dabolim airport will not be closed down .. even when the new airport [at Mopa] starts functioning". This was after hearing the views of Churchill Alemao in the CCC meeting. "At the same time, the work on the proposed Mopa .. airport would continue" she said as it was needed for the next 25 years. One fly in the ointment: she refers to a Rs 300 crore plan to upgrade and modernise Dabolim. Only the other day AAI gave a figure of a mere Rs 8 crore. The huge discrepancy needs to be reconciled. The more (most?) important issue is however the continuation of the Navy at Dabolim which Alemao has been objecting to albeit rather late in the day. What has Alva to say about a complete shift to Seabird or at least the discontinuation of military training flights at Dabolim? Meanwhile the controversial Cortalim MLA, Matanhy Saldanha while endorsing Churchill Alemao's recent call, has gone a bit ballistic by ascribing the genesis of the Mopa project as lying in petty matters of tenancy and price speculation on the part of a single landlord (a political opponent?). What is worse, he is supposed to have advised that "the Goa government can transfer .. all the money that would be invested in the non-sustainable airport at Mopa" to the Defence Ministry" to ensure that the Navy moves out! Now, the project is supposed to be of the order of Rs 1000 crores. If it is "unsustainable" then at least another Rs 1000 or 2000 crores would be poured into it. Is this amount (or rather ransom!) supposed to be handed over in advance to the Navy as per Saldanha's plan? What is he talking!
