-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This report has to be viewed in conjunction with one in today's HERALD titled "Mopa feasibility report in 6 months: Alva" wherein it is stated that the PM is constituting a group of experts for this purpose and it would take a 30 year future perspective of travel and tourism in Goa.
In addition it is said that "The Defense Ministry has committed to release extra land for expanding the runway and for another runway as well". Furthermore the Civil Aviation Ministry has reportedly agreed to provide Rs 500 crores for development of Dabolim. It is no doubt very gratifyng that the PM himself is taking on the work of tackling a 'fundamental' problem of Goa viz its aviation needs and the vexatious bottleneck associated with it. At the same time it is awe inspiring to realise that 6 months of 'concerted effort' by the country's top most executive may not be sufficient to disentangle the complex web in which the issue of Dabolim's 'DNA' is wrapped up. It might help matters greatly if the attention is carefully and holistically focused on "problem definition" rather than coming up with expedient "solutions" whose utility is quickly outlived. In the spirit of problem definition it can be suggested that the problem is not of feasibility of just Mopa but rather the feasibility of Dabolim AND Mopa taken together as a unit in the state and national context. If this is accepted then there is the fundamental issue of revoking the Union Cabinet decision of March 2000 which is predicated on Dabolim OR Mopa, not both together. This in turn is based on airport development policy and defense budgeting (which seems to preclude greenfield military airfields ) going back to the mid-90s experience with Kochi naval air station vs international airport. To any objective analyst, the feasibility of Dabolim-Mopa is a foregone conclusion. Goa already has a population of 1.4 million, and it attracts 2 million domestic travellers and nearly 0.5 million foreign tourists annually. Goa's own population is projected to increase to over 10 million in 10-15 years and possibly 20 million in 50 years. It is currently rated as one of the top holiday destinations of the world. Hence the need for two airports is, as they say, a no-brainer. The problem arises because the run-up to Mopa has been characterised by a "Mopa as replacement" perspective and not "Mopa as supplement" to Dabolim. Hence we are faced with the prickly issue of trashing the Mopa blue print which has now reached the stage just short of tendering. The basic problem is to determine the 'combination' of airport designs (i.e. of Dabolim AND Mopa) which will be optimum in the long run. This involves assumptions of international, domestic and charter traffic and their sharing over time between the two facilities. This in turn will be geared to ideas about the roles (whether primary or secondary, international or domestic etc) of the two airports. At the same time, one has to squarely confront the issue of Dabolim and Seabird in the Defense Ministry's scheme of things. It just makes no sense to envisage a major military base in a thriving tourist centre which, providentially, is very very far from a Kashmir-type situation! In short, the Dabolim-Mopa imbroglio may be a real test of the PM's wisdom in striking an effective balance between defense and socio-economic considerations (apart from the petty but pesky one of internal political wrangling). Let's see how he rises to the challenge. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
