Team Herald
MARGAO: Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) in a letter to the Chief Secretary has threatened to move the courts against the Concessionaire Agreement of Mopa Airport within a week if the Chief Secretary does not institute a vigilance enquiry into the agreement and stop the work immediately and does not give them an appointment to explain their case.
Briefing media persons Fr Eremito Rebello said they had submitted a letter to the Chief Secretary listing out the various illegalities, lapses and procedural bungling that have been done while preparing the agreement and said they were now prepared to move the courts if the chief secretary does not meet them within a week.
He said they had to study 400 pages of documents sourced under the Right to Information Act and are now prepared to file the case in the court. “The government first delayed in giving us the documents even though they were sought under RTI and then we had to study those documents,” said Edwin Pinto.
Fr Eremito insisted that the Concessionaire Agreement was not in favour of Goa but was prepared only to benefit the airport developer GMR and pointed out that the KPMG report had clearly concluded that the airport project was not feasible on a standalone basis without land and hence land should be given to the contractor for commercial use.
He stated that 9.38 lakh sq mts of land had been given to GMR for commercial development practically free of cost with the government forfeiting revenue to the tune of Rs. 13,920 crore for a meager Rs. 150 crore that is paid by GMR as a onetime concession fee.
Besides while the KPMG report had recommended a joint venture be set up and the revenue should be shared by the government and the developer, the government has conceded all revenue to GMR in the agreement which he said was totally against the interest of Goa and Goans.
Fr. Eremito questioned the very need for another airport at Mopa when the Dabolim airport that has been upgraded time and again and is projected to handle 1.12 crore passengers by 2021 and hence will be able to deal with the traffic till 2036.
He also alleged that the government has thrown away income it could have got from the revenue earned by the developer by defining revenue to be shared to be only the amount received from sub leases and excluding all other transactions.
He said there is a controversy over the road connecting the proposed airport to the national highway. While earlier it was said an flyover would be constructed costing Rs 300 crore and hence the cost of phase I of the project went up to Rs 1800 crore.
However subsequently the flyover was omitted and instead a 6-lane highway was proposed which has now reduced to 4-lane highway while the cost of the road remains the same at Rs 300 crore and it would not be constructed by the developer but by the government.
Besides, he pointed out that GMR in the loan agreement with Axis Bank said the expressway will cost Rs 65 crore and not Rs 300 crore as estimated by the government. “Why has this road project been taken away from the works to be done by the developer and if the government is doing it then why has the cost of phase I of the project not reduced?” asked Fr Eremito.
Fr Eremito also pointed out that the agreement puts lot of liabilities on the government even if the developer cancels the contract as the government has undertaken to pay 90 per cent of the Rs 1540 crore loan and if the government cancels the agreement then it will have to pay the entire loan amount besides the additional termination payment.
He also said the government was lying by saying that Goans will get jobs at the airport. “The developer has only agreed to give preference to Goans and it is not obligatory for him to check with the employment exchange for eligible youth to be employed,” Fr Eremito said.
He also cautioned that passengers will have to pay high amounts for the maintenance of the Mopa airport as the Dabolim airport runway and air traffic control is borne by the Indian Navy and union government while at Mopa it will have to be borne by the developer who will pass it on to the passengers.
