Karnataka   

Two international airports for Goa ‘not financially viable’

PANAJI: The high-power committee set up by the Centre to study the airport controversy in Goa will discuss at its next meeting the study report submitted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), an expert body, which has indicated that two international airports for Goa will not be financially viable.

Chief Secretary J.P. Singh told The Hindu on Tuesday that the Centre had extended the term of the high-power committee up to December 2007.

Mr. Singh confirmed that he had received the ICAO report, but declined to comment on it stating that he had not yet examined the report. He also said that the State Government may not examine the report till the ongoing election process for the south Goa parliamentary seat was over. The election is due on October 31. Shantaram Naik, Congress member of the Rajya Sabha and a member of the committee, said on Tuesday that the committee at his instance had decided to ask the ICAO to study the viability of the proposed airport afresh in the light of the fact that the Dabolim International Airport would continue to be in use simultaneously. The earlier feasibility reports of the proposed Mopa International Airport had not taken this aspect into consideration, he said. With the proposed Mopa airport facing opposition from some sections of the ruling Congress in the State last year, the Centre intervened to set up the committee with the Chief Minister as its ex-officio chairman.

Those opposed to the new airport had insisted that the Government should at least ensure that the Dabolim International Airport, which is under naval jurisdiction, continues with its civilian operations if the airport at Mopa was built.

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