Goa airport: Hot Topic for a White Paper? Philip S. Thomas <The Goa government needs to clarify the foregoing issues in a White Paper, given its commitment to two airports in the State -- namely the civil enclave at Dabolim and a new airport at Mopa. In particular, it has to show how both airports can co-exist for the long haul instead of for just a few years, initially. If Mopa international airport does get a go-ahead then Dabolim will close, willy-nilly, (if not because of Resolution 2000, then surely in another few years, once airlines find "modern" Mopa more convenient to operate from than Dabolim). The "aam aadmi of the air" will then be left to the mercy of either the military at Dabolim or a mercenary developer/operator in faraway Mopa...The easy option, of talking about two airports while knowing full well that after a few years there will be only one, at Mopa, must be resisted. The alternative is to do the hard and honest work of designing Mopa right and building it up gradually to ensure that Dabolim is never jeopardized. The latter approach will require dynamic design and financial engineering of Mopa from the outset. Later it will call for active monitoring of both airports' operations, with remedial steps to be taken (to keep "the balance of power") by Goa government and the civil aviation ministry. The state government must mean business (at least aviation business) - for Goa's sake. Almost everything else would follow from getting these "commanding heights" of the socio-political economy right.>
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