An Airport to Nowhere
Lionel Messias
We were the first to break the story on the airport at Chipi slowly getting off
the ground in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district almost next door to Mopa, so
close in fact that when the planned Mopa airport is ready and running, pilots
wanting to land at Chipi might confuse the Mopa airport for it; and vice versa.
And we are not being funny, because this has happened around the world.
Goanspirit now has pictures of the site which prove that work on the Chipi
airport has started in right earnest. We also discovered that the land
acquisition in Chipi went through unopposed because the land the Maharashtra
Industrial Development Corporation chose was barren in the first place. All we
saw for kilometers and kilometers was hard rock and no vegetation of any kind
except for dried grass. And as you can see, pictures don't lie.
What also went well for the project was the fact that the people of Malvan, the
nearest town to Chipi are positive about the airport after a stuttering start,
including at least three bhoomi pujas according to the Malvan taluka Bharatiya
Janata Party president Vishnu Mondkar. "We want Mopa also to come up as it
will benefit us", which corroborates what those against Mopa have been saying
all along, that it stands to benefit only south Maharashtra. According to him,
the land acquisition process for the Rs 510 crore 'Sea World' theme park
project, should also begin in a few months time. The world class project will
be implemented through the public private partnership (PPP) mode and the
viability gap funding by the state government will be Rs 100 crore. According
to him, the massive project is coming up in Tondavli in Malvan taluka. Mondkar
is himself in the tourism business and his firm Vighnaharta Tourism &
Development Pvt. Ltd is currently on to a new project.
Chipi has people's blessings
A retired bank employee told Goanspirit that when the Chipi airport is ready,
it would facilitate people in the region to fly to Mumbai for specialized
medical treatment. "Whereas, at the moment Goa's Dabolim airport offers the
only flight solution to Mumbai", he said, "and an expensive one considering the
cab fare from Goa to here as also the three and a half hours it takes".
Land levelled for the project
Three villagers trudging home in the afternoon sun on the newly built road that
cuts a swathe between the land that has been acquired for Chipi appeared to
have no rancour. "The airport should come up soon. They acquired 272 hectares
for the project," said one villager. "While the project needed 250 acres of
land, more was acquired", says a Malvan resident.
With Narayan Rane, the minister for industry, port, employment and
self-employment and Sindhudurg MLA, also the district guardian minister, the
vast area will get whatever it wants and some. The same cannot be said for
vast areas around Mopa. Literally, the planned airport project in Goa is akin
to building an airport in the boondocks. Also in Chipi according to Mondkar,
"there was never any agriculture or farming taking place". Perhaps, when Rane
invested in Hotel Green Park in Guirim, near Mapusa and in Hotel Neelam (named
after his wife) in Calangute, he was far more astute then he is given credit
for.
Who benefits
Sindhudurg district, several times bigger than Goa state, is serviced by the
Konkan railway which has a railway station at Sindhudurg, though only a few
trains stop there; and major railway stations at Kudal, Kanakavali and
Sawantwadi. Says Mondkar, "Chipi is necessary because an estimated 1,50,000
tourists come annually to see the Sindhudurg fort in Malvan and they stay back
to travel, for instance, to another popular tourist destination,Tarkarli, just
a few kilometers from here". Less than the official 7 kms in fact, as the
beach town stretches towards Malvan ("20-25 hotels") and has about 80 homestays
according to him. These are visible along the road to Tarkarli which again is
close to another tourist destination Devbaug (not to be confused with its
Devbhag in Karwar, Karnataka). "Chipi when it is ready will service all these
popular-with-Maharashtrians tourist destinations. According to him, a popular
Indian hotel chain has bought land in Tambaldeg beach in Devgad taluka about 40
km from Malvan to build a hotel.
More at:
http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/249-an-airport-to-nowhere
~Avelino
