TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Two Cabinet Ministers — Environment Minister Alina Saldanha and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado — raised apprehensions about the new Mopa airport following their supporters’ resentment even as State Cabinet Wednesday approved the request for qualification (RFQ) document for Mopa airport and the floating of expression of interest for the same on October 3.
During the Cabinet meeting, both the Ministers raised apprehensions about the new project. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said while Alina asked how the government could go ahead and float the RFQ without environment impact assessment (EIA), Avertano raised worries of his people who fear that with Mopa coming up, Dabolim would be shut.
“I gave them a satisfactory reply. During the course of discussion, I realized that both the Ministers were misinformed about the facts,” Parrikar said adding a special drive would be held in Margao and Baina putting across the facts and need for two airports for the State.
The State Cabinet, earlier approved the RFQ for Mopa airport and the floating of expression of interest for the same on October 3, Parrikar told media after the Cabinet meeting. In-principle approval of Finance Department has been granted to the RFQ. The proposal was cleared by the steering committee on September 24.
Stating that EIA study of the proposed airport at Mopa is in progress, Parrikar said the concession agreement with the qualified bidder would be signed only after completion of EIA study and granting of environment clearance from the union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
He said the State government has entrusted the EIA study of the airport project to the Engineers India Limited, a government of India undertaking at a cost of Rs 19.70 lakh. “There were apprehensions of how we can float RFQ without completion of EIA. But I would like to clarify that for listing out qualified and eligible bidder we don’t require EIA to be completed. It’s a long process and I can’t wait for it to be completed to float the RFQ,” Parrikar said.
As per the RFQ, the important parameters for qualification are development experience in airport sector, core sector, operational experience, passenger turnout, etc. The applicants would be evaluated based on their experience in development of airports — essentially Greenfield or Brownfield. “The applicant’s competence and capability will be established taking into account their technical capacity and financial capacity,” the RFQ document reads.
“Mopa airport is the need of the hour for Goa. With the increasing passenger traffic, Goa needs two airports,” Chief Minister said, claiming that by 2017 both the airports would be in a position to cater to 7 million passengers annually. “Dabolim international airport will continue its civilian operation even after commissioning of the new airport,” Parrikar said.
The Chief Minister said government has acquired 81,29,455 sq mtrs for development of Mopa airport and has paid Rs 11.77 crore as compensation to the farmers. Further, an area of 381 acres is being proposed near the airport site for commercial development. “This proposed area is only indicative and not legally binding on the government,” he added.
The Chief Minister had earlier announced that if everything goes well, the new airport would commence operation by 2016-end or early 2017.
