PANAJI
Reiterating that the Greenfield Airport at Mopa is not in the interest of Goans, Goans For Dabolim Only (GFDO) has raised apprehensions over the Concessionaire Agreement signed by the State Government with GMR for developing the Mopa airport.
GFDO has appealed to Opposition MLAs to raise the queries pertaining to the Concessionaire Agreement in the ongoing monsoon session of the State Legislative Assembly.
Addressing a press conference, GFDO Convener Fr Eremito Rebelo said, "GFDO has written to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar seeking clarifications on various issues pertaining to Mopa airport. We still have not received any response from him. We appeal to the Opposition MLAs to raise these issues in the ongoing Assembly session."
GFDO Officials informed that they have already met various Opposition MLAs including Luizinho Faleiro, Wilfred D\'Sa and Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco, among others.
Raising doubts over the Agreement, GFDO alleged, "It looks like the government is flouting its own Concessionaire Agreement to breathe life into this unviable project."
"As per the Concessionaire Agreement, Goans, as defined in the Investment Promotion Act have to be employed at the Airport. Strangely, IPB Act does not define the term ‘Goan\'. So who will be employed by GMR? And if it fails to employ Goans, what is the penalty to be imposed on GMR? We need this clarification," said Rebelo.
Pointing out that the as per the agreement the project is supposed to be completed within 1050 days of signing the Agreement, Rebelo questioned, "Will the government explain why the date of completion of the project has been pushed to 2020 as revealed by CM in the Assembly session."
Stating that even after several months of signing the agreement, GFDO has said that the master plan of the Airport is still not in place.
"Why has Goa Government agreed to give 381 acres of land to the Concessionaire, of which 240 acres is for unrestricted development? Without a timeline for development of the 81 acres, will this land have any benefit for Goans? These conditions only permit GMR to speculate with valuable Goan land resources by keeping them vacant until the land price escalates. The land can be then leased whenever they want as a whole, on in parts within the next 60 years," sated GFDO.
