PANAJI
The much anticipated inauguration of the Mopa International Airport could possibly take place on December 11.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said although no confirmation of a firm date has come yet from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) the arrangements and logistics are being worked out and organised with December 11 in mind.
“The formal date has not been conveyed by the PMO as on date," Sawant said, adding however that the Goa government, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, GMR (the concessionaire) and others have begun on the preparations.
The greenfield airport at Mopa is being built by the Concessionaire GMR on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) PPP model in four phases.
It is expected to go operational within the current calendar year.
An A-320 aircraft of the commercial carrier IndiGo Airlines has test landed and taken off from the strip there and it has already been granted aerodrome licence besides all other statutory clearances by the Aviation regulator.
The reports of operations at the Mopa Airport commencing soon meanwhile has rekindled a decades-old debate over the uncertain future for civil operations at the existing Dabolim airport.
Politicians, hospitality industry captains and others have expressed fears that the Navy-controlled airport will be shut for civil operations and all flights diverted once Mopa is operational.
The debate persists even as both the State governments as well as the Central Government officials have assured both the airports will remain operational.
