--- Philip Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So all should push for a regional airport at Mopa. > This will not duplicate > Dabolim's traffic (and vacuum it away) but rather > supplement/expand it in > Goa's interest. The initial investment will not be > outlandish but there > would be a need to expand, upgrade, invest etc every > few years as traffic > (hopefully) grows. (This means the > required/available Mopa land has to be > securely "banked" for the future). > > Meanwhile Dabolim would also upgrade and invest > (hopefully a bit more > speedily than in the past when constraints were > pronounced). ---> I fail to see the logic in Philip's comments. If Dabolim can be upgraded and expanded, why would there be a need for another airport at Mopa? Conversely, if the upgrades being done will not meet the projected needs of Goa's future traffic, then why should scare resources be put into a dead horse?
> This can happen for the following reasons described > in my July 18 post. <If > the airport access continues to be a problem (as in > Bangalore andHyderabad) > then the developers will insist on a provision to > close Dabolim when Mopa is > ready. Otherwise no one will use Mopa and it will be > a white elephant (as > especially Bangalore would have been without it). > **If closure is not > assured and access is a problem then Mopa cannot be > an international airport > but more likely a regional one --> Why should the much larger domestic market be made to endure the access difficulties, while the smaller international sector have the benefits of "easier" access? What we have here is a situation where political interests in Dabolim and Mopa are pushing for their airports. Not accounting for the fact that resources will be spread too thin, if Goa ends up with two airports, we will have two mediocre facilities - one that is constrainted by space or military controls and the other that is not easily accessible. I think Goa needs to focus on far more important issues than 2 airports! Passenger traffic to Goa is very peaky. Except for the christmas rush, Dabolim is pretty much a ghost town. During this peak period, it is not only Dabolim, but much of Goa's infrastructure that is unable to effectively deal with the onslaught of people. Not getting into the issues of Goa's tourism strategy, I think it would make more sense for Goa to invest in its own internal infrastructure than its points of entry for the rest of the world. If Goa does decide to proceed with a new airport, it needs to do it right, right from the start, with process access. Personally, I think this Mopa-Dabolim wrangling is not necessarily a bad thing. Delaying the decision making process means that there is one less trough for some of the corrupt politicians to feed out off. Let the struggle continue!! Marlon
