PANJIM: The State government has tied up with the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), a Central government body, to plant five lakh trees to compensate those which were felled, to make way for the upcoming greenfield international airport at Mopa.
The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the proposal to rope in ICFRE to monitor planting of five lakh trees around the Mopa airport area. The Cabinet has also approved the transfer of 14,661 sq mts of land from various departments such as Water Resources and Public Works, for construction of Mopa Express Highway.
Addressing the media persons post meeting, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said that five lakh trees would be planted around Mopa airport area, to compensate against those trees, which had to be cut.
“The Cabinet has cleared the proposal. Five lakh trees will be planted as compensation for the trees cut at the Mopa international airport site,” Sawant said.
Sawant said that the Cabinet decided to rope in Government of India’s ICFRE to plant the trees surrounding the airport site.
“As per the agreement, the trees will also be taken care by ICFRE in the future,” he said.
As per the government record on the Floor of the House, nearly 54,176 trees had been cut at the Mopa plateau for the project. The first phase of Goa’s upcoming Mopa international airport will be commissioned by August 2022 at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In yet another decision, the Cabinet accorded its approval for the appointment of DCS Solar Energy Limited in consortium with Vascon Engineers Limited for construction of Mega International Convention Center at Dona Paula.
The Rs 800 crore worth first phase of the project will be executed in PPP mode.
The company will do two types of revenue sharing with the State- Mandatory Facilities Revenue Share of 6.99 per cent and Quoted Downstream Assets Revenue Share of 12.99 per cent.
The Chief Minister said that the foundation stone for the project will be laid within two months.
The Cabinet also granted one year extension to its Pension Cell and appointment of Shirish Prabhu Lavande as a member of State Police Authority.
