Goa govt. plans to go ahead with Mopa international airport project Wednesday, November 21, 2007 (10:00 IST) By Mayuresh Pawar | Panjim The Goa government will soon approach the Union Civil Aviation Ministry with the second feasibility report submitted recently by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on the proposed new international airport at Mopa in North Goa. "We have received the feasibility report that suggests viability of two airports in Goa and we will go ahead with the plan to set-up the international airport at Mopa," Digambar Kamat, Chief Minister, Goa told TravelBiz Monitor. Meanwhile, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry has granted Rs 500 crore for the up gradation of the existing international airport at Dabolim.
According to Kamat, the second feasibility report has been prepared with A 380 as the model aircraft for the master plans of the airport, which means the runway width will be more than any of the existing airports in the country. ICAO had been asked to prepare the second feasibility report in 2006 by the state government as the Mopa international airport project had run into controversy in 2005 and kept in abeyance following objections raised by some political parties. "The location of Mopa is suitable for the kind of large-scale project that Goa wishes to launch, one which will also benefit towns and cities like Sangli, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Kolhapur in Maharashtra and Belgaum, Hubli, Karwar and Dharwad in Karnataka," stated Kamat who further added that the airport being planned at Sindhudurg by the Maharashtra government is small and would only cater to domestic airlines. Goa is projected to receive around 6.5 million passengers over the next two decades and the Mopa airport plan proposes to create facility to cater to around 10 million passengers. The suggested timeline for the completion of the first phase with a single runway with rapid exit taxiways to reduce runway occupancy is 2014. More at: http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/articleDetails.aspx?id=1538§ionid=36 &name=Top%20Stories ~(^^)~ Avelino
