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PM Modi to inaugurate Goa’s second airport on December 11: CM Pramod Sawant
The new facility will help connect the state with 20 new domestic destinations and 12 new international destinations, Goa chief secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally inaugurate Goa’s second international airport at Mopa during his visit to the state on December 11, chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday.
The prime minister, who will be attending and addressing the concluding ceremony of the World Ayurveda Congress in Goa from December 8-11, will also virtually inaugurate a host of other projects including the All India Institute of Ayurveda in North Goa’s Dhargal, the National Institute of Unani medicine in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) and the National Institute of Homeopathy in Delhi’s Narela.
“The prime minister will pay a visit to the airport to inaugurate it,” Sawant announced at a press conference, adding that the airport is scheduled to begin operations from January 5.
“Dabolim has a capacity of 8.5 million passengers per annum. The new one will have a capacity of 4.4 million per annum (in the first phase). The ultimate capacity of the new airport will be almost 10 million per annum, which can be increased to 30 million a year,” Goa chief secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said.
The new facility will help connect the state with 20 new domestic destinations and 12 new international destinations, Goel said.
“Total direct connections at Dabolim are 50, but 20 new (domestic) destinations will be added at Mopa. Similarly, Dabolim has six international destinations, and 12 more will be added in the new airport. There is no night parking and cargo terminal facility at Dabolim because it is a naval airport, but the new one will have these,” he added.
Also Read:Both Goa airports to operate simultaneously, Dabolim won’t be shut down: VK Singh
The tender for Mopa airport was issued in 2014, awarded in 2016 and foundation stone laid on 13 November 2016 by PM Modi. GMR Infrastructure won the bid to build, operate and transfer the airport after promising to share 36.99% of the operating profit with the state government – the highest among those who made the bids. GMR airports will secure concession rights for 40 years, with an optional addition of 20 years.
Mopa will also be Goa’s first cargo-carrying airport.
Built at a cost of ₹2,870 crore, across 2,132 acres of land, the airport was initially expected to be completed within 36 months of the work order being handed over in August 2016.
But the Supreme Court stayed the construction owing to environmental concerns, causing a delay of more than a year. A fresh timeline was later given to complete it “somewhere between the end of 2021 and early 2022”.
