VASCO: The long-pending parallel taxiway alongside the runway at Dabolim airport will soon become a reality as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both stakeholders – the Navy and AAI – for a cost-sharing agreement will be signed within a month, followed by the start of the work, stated K S Rao, Director of Airport Authority of India (AAI), Goa. He also said that a detailed project report for the taxiway has already been submitted.
“AAI is preparing to sign a MoU with the Indian Navy to procure land to build a parallel taxiway alongside the runway at Dabolim airport,” said Rao. “This project has been delayed for long time. Once we get a new taxiway on the northern side, then landing aircraft will be able to vacate the runway within three minutes, and they can land one after the other without delay. At present, it takes 15 to 20 minutes for each aircraft to backtrack along the runway and reach the parking area and no other flight is able to land during that time,” Rao added.
It may be recalled that much before the work of the new terminal building at Dabolim airport could start, the then Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel, on April 2008, had cleared the proposal for a new parallel taxiway for the airport. However, even after completing the terminal and starting operations from there, the taxiway on the northern side of the runway was yet to become a reality.
Incidentally, then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, in July 2013, had said that, “a parallel taxiway that was proposed at Dabolim airport, which will allow for five times the current number of takeoffs and landings, hasn’t been started yet. The taxiway was part of a plan conceptualised along with the new terminal.”
The new terminal has not only been completed, but is being used for a few years. However, the taxiway is nowhere in sight. Even with Parrikar holding the post of Union Defence Minister, the project, which was stuck due to land issues, is taking so much time.
The runway at Dabolim falls under the Navy’s jurisdiction. A parallel taxiway on the southern side of the runway caters to the needs of commercial and defence aircrafts. But the main concern for the AAI has been the increasing number of flights and a delay of about 15 minutes to vacate the runway.
