PANAJI
On Monday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the Goa state government has extended the deadline for the Concessionaire of Manohar International Airport at Mopa to pay its revenue share to December 7, 2024.
In a written reply presented in the House, Sawant explained that the Council of Ministers approved this extension during a recent cabinet meeting. The new deadline pushes the previous payment date from May 31, 2024, to December 7, 2024.
Sawant highlighted that according to the agreement, Phase I of the airport was supposed to be completed within 1,095 days from the appointed date in September 2017. This meant Phase I should have been finished by September 3, 2020, and the government should have started receiving revenue from September 4, 2020.
However, Sawant noted that court stay orders and the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay of 851 days in completing Phase I. As a result, the payment of the revenue share to the government will now begin two years after the completion of Phase I.
Due to these delays, the government has adjusted the project milestones and the scheduled completion date according to the Concession Agreement. With the cabinet's approval, the new date for the Concessionaire to start paying the concession fee and revenue share to the government is now set for December 7, 2024.
"The payment of revenue share to the government shall commence after the period of two years from the date of achievement of the completion of Phase I of the project," Sawant said.
