PANJIM: The government didn’t quite expect this in its very first meeting with 12 companies, one of which might walk away with one of the largest infrastructure contracts for grabs in this country — the Mopa airport. It was asked a question by these companies that many in Goa have asked but with no real answers. Would the Mopa airport and the existing Dabolim airport be able to be financially sustainable? Or more importantly, will Mopa get enough business if it has to compete with the Dabolim airport?
According to sources in the know of what transpired at the pre-bid meeting of companies who had responded to the Request for Qualification, some of them were clearly concerned and wanted an affirmation that Mopa will be the only airport for passenger and cargo traffic. 12 of the 16 companies that responded were present today.
In an informal chat with some media persons, the head of the Directorate of Civil Aviation has confirmed that these queries were indeed raised by some of the companies.
The final date for bids on the Request for Qualification for the Greenfield Airport has been pushed to December 12.
The Government is said to have told them that Mopa would be a cargo and passenger airport and the tourism is expected to grow and this would help make both airports viable. However, sources say that the government is expected to give a formal reply to them by November 17. The companies made presentations, discussed, debated and also raised queries on various issues.
The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had recently told the media that total ten global companies had responded to the RFQ, issued on October 3. He said that global infrastructure companies from France, Germany, South Korea and Spain had responded. The Chief Minister had claimed that Dabolim would be over-saturated in the next two years.
