Mopa will be detrimental to tourism: Faleiro
Gerard De Souza
PANJIM: Despite the Union Cabinet’s approval for the Mopa greenfield airport among others back in 2010, which the Congress now says was never meant to be at the cost of Dabolim, the Party and the Central government pushed by AICC general secretary from Goa, Luizinho Faleiro is now batting for Dabolim airport’s expansion and up-gradation with additional land from the Indian Navy.
While senior Congress leader and Goa desk in-charge Digvijaya Singh has said that the proposal for Mopa “should not be even considered”, UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi has written to the Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to “take up the matter” and Ajit Singh has assured that he is “having the matter examined.” These statements have come in response to Faleiro petitioning them “in view of the un-viability of two airports in Goa and availability of land with the Navy to expand Dabolim airport”.
“I totally agree with you that the proposal for another airport at Mopa in North Goa should not be even considered. The (Dabolim) airport had already spent more than Rs 400 crore. The existing Goa airport at Dabolim will be fully competent to absorb the passenger traffic,” Digvijaya Singh wrote to Faleiro a few months ago. “I am writing… to the Minister of Civil Aviation and also to the Chief Minister of Goa on this issue… I am also requesting the Defence Minister of India to consider handing over the land from the Navy to cater to the future growth of Dabolim airport,” he added.
UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, “My office is taking up the matter with the concerned authority for being examined appropriately” and wrote to the Civil Aviation Minister on the issue in October. Ajit Singh, the Civil Aviation Minister, in his communiqué has agreed to “have the matter examined”, ditto Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh has also written to Faleiro that “he is having the matter looked into.”
In his communications, Faleiro had pointed out how “the existing and expanded Goa Airport at Dabolim, which is conveniently and centrally located for the entire State is equipped with the capacity to handle 9.5 million passengers a year” and that “experts have projected traffic of just 7.3 million (ADPi) and 9.27 million (ICAO) for 2035.” He also pointed out that for both the airports to function profitably it would require a minimum of 24 million passengers which is not projected for at least the next 30 years. “Despite the claims of the State government, experts have opined that two airports are un-viable considering Goa’s low air traffic… there will be no alternative but to close down the profitable Goa airport at Dabolim for commercial operations. If this second PPP airport at Mopa is permitted to be set up, it will be a white elephant with a detrimental impact on the tourism sector,” he had said in his letters.
All the lobbying from within does seem to be having the desired effect on the Congress and Central top brass and despite the Party being a divided house in Goa, the Congress Legislature Party in the State and the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee have also resolved to support the demand for optimum utilization of Dabolim airport and until then the proposal for Mopa airport at North Goa should be shelved.
In an earlier letter in 2006, the then Defence Minister of India (now President) Pranab Mukherjee had assured that there was no proposal to close down the civil aircraft operations from Dabolim airfield especially since the Navy had already given 25 acres of land to the AAI for the civil enclave and an additional 8.77 acres for required infrastructure. When contacted, Faleiro stressed that he has all along been against Mopa at the cost of Dabolim, unlike “some of his opponents” whom he said had made flip-flops on the issue of the airport. Faleiro had in 2006 too, when he was minister for Industries and Education had written to the Union Defence Minister and the Union Finance Minister that the Mopa airport should be shelved. The letter was among several letters he addressed to Delhi in the wake of Churchill, who was the then Congress MP from South Goa and had come out against Mopa airport in a bid to wrest the Navelim seat.
Meanwhile, minister and officials from New Delhi have arrived in the State for the “soft launch” of the new integrated terminal building at Dabolim scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
