For two or three years we have been hearing about this upgrade. All we were told was that it would cost Rs 500 crores. Of late some information is trickling out regarding the elements involved. Still the picture is foggy. Part of thee reason for this is the lack of "memory" in the media. They just focus on events without drawing on any files for some perspective. Its left to the reader to try and make sense of what is happening. And who has the time for this?
Anyway, to get back to the current problem, Dabolim airport's passenger terminal is in two sections, domestic and international. Two or three years ago there was a plan to convert the present international into another domestic terminal and construct a new international terminal parallel to the Highway. In today's TOI we hear about a plan to demolish the "existing terminal building" and about the construction of "an integrated new terminal building for catering to domestic and international passengers". Thankfully this is not on the cards but some fear that "plans for partial demolition of this building means the original plan is being cut drastically" and objections are being raised to this eventuality. The upgrade also involves expansion of aircraft parking bays (including aero-bridges), a parallel taxiway, a multi-storied car park etc etc. We dont have the foggiest idea of this supposedly complex plan and how it meshes with Navy's airport territory and what will be the effect on the design of Mopa airport. To add to the confusion, it has been mentioned (in support of the partial demolition option) that one of the terminal buildings (which one?) is only 7 or 8 years old which would date it to 2000 or 2001. That's on or after the time when the original intent was to close Dabolim civil enclave when Mopa came up. Then there is the vague recollection that there was a plan for Dabolim's upgrade in 2003 in the NDA regime (about which the North Goa MP should know something as he was Minister of State in Finance then). So the bottom line is that there is a crying need for total clarity on what's going on. Who will step up and do the needful? What a sorry state of affairs. Phew!
