Goa to have 2 airports – old and new ‘No change in policy; reversal of earlier Cabinet decision an exception'.
Our Bureau New Delhi, June 10 The existing airport at Dabolim in Goa will continue to function even when the greenfield international airport comes up at Mopa in north Goa. The new facility will come up about 80 km away from the Dabolim airport. This was decided by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The current Government airport policy does not allow an airport to come up within a 150-km radius of an existing airport; however an exception is being made in the case of Goa. This policy was one of the reasons cited for closure of the old airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad when the new airports were opened there. The latest decision reverses a Union Cabinet decision of March 2000 which called for closing the existing airport when the greenfield airport in Goa becomes operational. “Goa will have two airports - one in the north and another in south Goa. There is no change in the existing Government policy on construction of airports,” the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms Ambika Soni, told newspersons after the Cabinet meeting. Official sources said that both the airports will handle domestic and international passengers. Fresh study An official statement stated that the decision to have two airports has been taken after several representations were made to a six-member committee constituted to examine the issue. “The Committee got a fresh study conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation on the possibility of co-existence of both Dabolim and Mopa airports. The study revealed that it was possible to operate both the airports with equitable distribution of traffic between them,” the statement adds. The Goa Government will now have to start work on the construction of the airport which is to be built on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer basis. A private entity will be selected through a global tendering process to construct the airport. The current airport in Goa belongs to the Navy, with the Airports Authority of India maintaining a civil enclave to facilitate operation of flights by commercial airlines. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/06/11/stories/2010061153970100.htm
