Sensing differences in the State government over going ahead with the Request for Qualification (RFQ) of the proposed Mopa International Airport ahead of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study, the Opposition has upped the ante in opposing the second airport proposal.
MLA and spokesperson of Congress Legislative Party Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco on Tuesday demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar send the RFQ plan to gram sabhas in south Goa to elicit public opinion of it.
He also urged Mr. Parrikar to hold an open debate on the issue including members of all parties. Alleging a “real estate scam” behind the government's plan to reserve 381 acre of land measuring 15 lakh sq m at Mopa for commercial development, Mr. Reginaldo said the “scam” becomes even bigger when rural land, where the permissible floor area ratio (FAR) is 0.8, is given to builders with an FAR that is five times higher (4).
“This means they would be getting land equivalent to 75 lakh sq m. At a minimum price of Rs. 3,000 per sq m, this land is worth Rs. 2,250 crore,” said Mr. Reginaldo.
Earlier on Tuesday, reiterating her reservations over the proposed second airport being planned in north Goa, Goa Minister for Environment and Forest Alina Saldanha had said, “Goa is too small for two international airports”.
Mr. Parrikar recently had insisted that Goa needed another airport to cater to the increase in passengers. He had also tried to dispel apprehensions over Dabolim airport, by saying that Mopa airport would in no way hit operations of the existing Dabolim airport.
He argued that passenger traffic to Goa is poised to cross 8 million in near future. The new integrated terminal building at Dabolim airport can at best handle only 4.5 million passengers.
The State Cabinet last week cleared a proposal to float tenders for RFQ from contractors for a project estimated to cost Rs. 3,000 crore.
