Dabolim Airport - The Mopa Option

The Mopa Option

Years ago the Navy accorded its approval to the civil aviation ministry's plans to locate a greenfield airport at Mopa in the northernmost tip of Goa. At the same time, the civil aviation ministry moved a resolution in March 2000 whereby Dabolim civil enclave would close once Mopa airport came on stream. The resolution was passed by the Union Cabinet. But opposition to such a prospect for historical and practical reasons, which was dormant since mid-2000, grew virulent in mid-2005 when ICAO submitted a report about the plans for the new Mopa "international" airport. It was felt that it would result in the closure of Dabolim civil enclave by default or by design.

Plans were then drawn up to upgrade Dabolim in the meantime at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crores (Rs 5 billion) and the consultant was asked to examine the feasibility of two airports in Goa. It has since given a tentative approval to a "dual airport" solution even in conjunction with the planned Dabolim upgrade. The upgrade consists of a congeries of plans evolving from 2000/2001 and consisting of (a) partial or complete demolition of the old terminal, (b) construction of a new "integrated" terminal, (c) a dozen aircraft parking bays/night parking bays, (d) aerobridges, (e)a parallel taxi track, (f) a captive power plant and (g) a multi-storied car park.

Meanwhile the Navy's title to Dabolim airport land has been questioned by a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) of Goa in relation to the plan to relocate the civil enclave to the Mopa civilian airport on the grounds that it is the state government of Goa which authorises land transfers in its jurisdiction. He has disclosed that the Navy "literally" makes the state government and the Airports Authority of India "beg" for land needed at Dabolim airport. This made it imperative to establish the clear title to the airport land. Local Navy officials brushed off this argument as inconsequential given the passage of time.

The delays were apparently due to the structuring of these Dabolim deals as land-for-land at the instance of the Navy. This is in contrast to inter-governmental adjustments based on situation-specific military security assessments and demonstrable civilian needs. In this instance, one of the main sticking points was a small but crucial bit of land over which there was a fundamental difference of opinion between the Navy and the state government. The Navy alleged that "encroachment" was involved. A clearance for the expansion from the central Public Investment Board was also pending. Here the issues were the size and scope of the plan (such as the required aeronautical clearances given existing structures) as well as who would do the work on the parallel taxi track, AAI or the Navy.

The Goa government has now officially given an "in principle" approval to the civil aviation ministry to two airports in the state. The civil aviation minister has recently been propagating the vision of an airport in every district by 2020. Goa's two airports would conceivably be consistent with this. The high-powered committee has since submitted its final recommendation for a new airport at Mopa to the Prime Minister.

In the indications dribbling out in the interim (a) a "review" of the Union Cabinet's March 2000 decision to close Dabolim civil enclave on the opening of Mopa has been sought (b) Mopa is being tipped as an "international" airport while Dabolim would be "domestic" (c) estimates of the investment in Mopa range from $205 million to $400 million and a 33,000 square metres (360,000 sq ft) passenger terminal is envisaged (d) it is hoped that Dabolim civil enclave would be expanded/upgraded simultaneously (e) Mopa airport would be Code F or super-jumbo compatible (f) the exact status of the ground transport (north-south) connectivity of the two airports is still up in the air. Meanwhile the local base commander of the Indian Navy has urged the Goa government to expedite the Mopa airport project unambiguously drawing a line on the availability of any more land for civilian purposes. However an explicit two-airport system had yet to be studied in Goa.