Team Herald
MARGAO: Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco said it is high time the government realises its mistake in signing an entirely one-sided concessionaire agreement with GMR in wake of the expensive and embarrassing arbitration procedure it had to go through in the dispute with Reliance Infrastructure.
The Curtorim MLA said the Goa govt has assumed the entire financial liability of the airport and recalled that former minister and MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar had also said that it would be a repetition of the arbitration imbroglio with Reliance Infrastructure.
While asserting that Mopa airport will be a huge financial liability for Goans, he said the govternment had no answer to any of the questions asked by him at the recently concluded assembly session. On this note, he demanded that the government answers certain questions.
He asked whether the government has to pay an amount of Rs 4 lakhs per day to GMR for the delay in giving environmental clearance since October 2016 and whether the government has signed an agreement with GMR to waive off the penalty following National Green Tribunal and Supreme Court orders.
Reginaldo also sought to know who would fund the Rs 300 crore highway leading to Mopa airport in view of the fact that the National Highway Authority of India is facing a financial collapse. He further pointed out that the starred hotels in Goa have not been able to increase their room charges for the last 4 years and raised doubts about the amount of revenue the State can generate from the 11 lakh square metres of land given for commercial use to GMR.
He also asked the government how they expect to get over one crore passengers to Mopa to make it profitable given the fact that some Indian airlines have closed down and that Thomas Cook UK has also collapsed.
He also wondered for how long, Goans who lost their land, will have to wait to get jobs as promised.
He pointed out that the State will be liable to pay GMR Rs 345 crore if the agreement is terminated besides paying Rs. 12 crore per annum as penalty.
Reginaldo called on the government to immediately cancel the Mopa concessionaire agreement and demanded that the entire process be thoroughly investigated.
