Let me repeat. The tender process for Mopa Airport to select the bidder was started and completed without proper project preparation to identify the scope of works for a Design Build Finance Operate Transfer (DBFOT) contract based on site clearances and master plans of the project components for phase -wise airport development.
There are no proper feasibility studies to confirm the need for an additional international airport near the Goa-Maharashtra boundary at Mopa to meet the sustainable air traffic requirements of the tiny State of Goa. Flight operations from the newly-built Chipi airport in Konkan’s Sindhudurg district are expected to commence from January 2021. This airport is expected to be well connected to the Navi Mumbai International Airport located in the neighbouring North Konkan district through the Greenfield Konkan Expressway (between Navi Mumbai to Patradevi) to be implemented by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).Is it proposed to extend the Konkan Expressway from Patradevi to the unviable Mopa Airport with a massive access-controlled connectivity road for promoting Goa as a gambling and sex tourism destination?
The Bharatmala Pariyojana attempts to notify the existing National Highways as Economic Corridors that have road right-of-way of 80 meters. Serious attempts are being made to designate the existing village, district and state highway roads as National Highways for the supporting inter-corridor and feeder roads under the Bharatmala Pariyojana. The proposed Panjim to Hyderabad economic corridor passing through the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats & surrounding region is for supporting the industrial development activities of Karnataka linked to the unsustainable Mopa Airport.
The proposed Greenfield International airport at Mopa still remains only an “idea” for promoting hidden mega cities/townships and special investment regions with unsustainable multi-modal transportation hubs.The implementation of such development plans will completely destroy peaceful villages and the unique identity of the tiny State of Goa.
The Mopa Airport project is located in the command areas of the Tillari Irrigation Project for which huge investment has been made for creating assets to improve livelihoods of local village communities through promotion of fair weather(rabi) cultivation. Pernem and Goa needs agricultural competitiveness projects covering different areas of agriculture & rural development to fully utilise the potential of natural resources and created irrigation infrastructure for achieving sustainable development solutions.
Appropriate agriculture policy, institutional support, regulatory frameworks & capacity building initiatives are required to take up the sub-projects that will be identified under 25-30 years master plans.
Since massive land has been acquired for implementing Mopa Airport development, the airport master plans are in conflict with agriculture and rural development plans. Therefore, there is an urgent need to disclose the Mopa Airport development plans.
