In a surprise decision, the State Cabinet granted an extension of six months to GMR International to pay a share in the gross revenue of Manohar International Airport (MIA) at Mopa. The revenue share of 36.99 per cent payable to the Goa government, which was earlier scheduled to begin on May 31, has been deferred to December 7 this year giving GMR a massive revenue package. The question one may ask is, is this extension justified, going by the reality of its own revenue numbers that the government is grappling with? Well, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has attributed the decision to a petition before the Supreme Court and previously due to the Covid-19 pandemic "that affected overall operations of the airport.”
Lest we forget, Sawant had disclosed on the floor of the Legislative Assembly in July last year that the Manohar International Airport had generated a revenue of Rs 26.8 crore as of March 31, 2023, three months after it launched operations in January 2023. GMR officials disclosed that the airport is expected to increase its annual passenger handling capacity to 8 million by June-July this year, from the current 4.4 million.
According to March figures, on average, the airport handled around 100 aircraft and over 15,000 passengers daily and expects the passenger count to go up to 21,000 by the middle of this year. Most importantly, GMR has estimated a revenue of over Rs 500 crore this financial year.
Rewind into 2023. The State government has been so optimistic about the Manohar International Airport’s growth story that Sawant mentioned at a Western Zone Council meeting in Gujarat that Goa will achieve a double-digit growth rate because of the airport's positive impact on tourism. Against the backdrop of such a level of optimism, and the numbers that the airport has achieved ever since it took off, the extension period of six months given to operationalise the revenue sharing of 36.99 per cent is baffling.
It appears from the Mopa trail of events that the State government is having a soft corner for GMR which was evident right from the time the project was stayed by the Supreme Court on 18th January 2019.
Although work resumed after the apex court lifted the stay, GMR was given an extension of 634 to complete the job and make the airport operational.
The Cabinet nod to extend the revenue sharing deadline by a further six months is baffling because it defies the logic of numbers, and secondly, it invites an unexplained loss on the government treasury. The government could have easily stuck to its deadline of May 31 instead of taking a decision retrospectively. A concession over Covid-19 at this stage does not make sense and gives the impression that it was considering the coffers of GMR and not the State.
Moreover, Goa was one of the worst-hit States during the twin Covid waves with the economy shrinking in double digits. Tourism, which was the mainstay of the State in the absence of mining, took a massive hit.
The government refused to bail out businesses seeking tax concessions at that time, as the battle for survival was raging in all its ferocity. Giving revenue concessions to GMR, that too on amounts that run into crores, is not only irrational but also smacks of financial mismanagement.
