-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article neatly answers a question I was posed on another web forum recently viz name the specific firms who would be adversely affected by the closure of civilian flights at Dabolim. (Parenthetically, I dont know the purpose of asking such a question -- unless it is to hit them with extortion threats. The answer is a no-brainer as the author has rightly pointed out! Never mind.)
I agree with the bulk of the author's argument including the all important suggestion to convert Dabolim into a civilian facility with a naval enclave instead of the other way around as at present. However, I have a few quibbles viz: 1. What exactly is the "vast infrastructure" that has to be "taken down" at Dabolim and transferred to Karwar bit by bit? The runway cant be dismantled, right? All that the Navy has to do is to build a new and smaller one at Karwar to meet the specific need of flight training of carrier and copter pilots! Once such training is relocated to Karwar, hey presto! a lot of slots would automatically open up at Dabolim for civilian flights. The Navy would even be one up on the IAF which is not known to have built greenfield airfields from scratch, relying largely on hand me downs from WW II. However, the 'bus-terminus' idea of pushing the Navy into a corner of the new Dabolim airport is unrealistic to say the least if not altogether laughable! It is another matter that one can discern no real military purpose to the Navy's presence in Dabolim aside perhaps from routine surveillance and some logistics. 2. Who has invested in the vast infrastructure -- the Navy or AAI? And btw, who earns the navigation and other charges presently levied on civilian flghts at Dabolim? These matters have to be made completely transparent and not covered up under the guise of "security restrictions". 3. As for the key issue of why a second airport for "tiny" Goa, the whole thing boils down to civil aviation needs in the era of low cost air travel. It is imperative to have both a primary airport and a secondary airport to serve an important air travel destination like Goa which is spread over nearly 4000 sq kms. The question is one of "right sizing" Mopa and deciding on the sharing of the civilian traffic with Dabolim instead of evoking unrealistic images of Hong Kong and Singapore to trash Mopa. Unfortunately, in India a greenfield airport seems to automatically mean a Taj Mahal style project (e.g for A380 superjumbos at Mopa no less) with built in delays and cost overruns (not to mention corruption). This is antithetical to the needs of low cost domestic aviation. The bottom line: Goa needs a growing and vibrant Dabolim airport under civilian control (or at least under effective joint control) and simultaneously needs a modularly designed, scaleable but initially small, domestic jet airport at Mopa for national economic development purposes. Comprende? Cheers!
