<5. Would you prefer having a new airport for Goa or expanding the existing one? Why?>[Yash Ganthe]
The author's formulation of this question is rather dated. Hence it is likely to elicit a response on unhelpful lines from someone who is as knowledgeable as MP. At best, the latter will simply update us and we will think he is telling us something new. That would be a waste given the intriguing potential the airport question has of providing an acid test of one's administrative acumen and vision for Goa. About six weeks ago the Goa government formally wrote to the Civil Aviation Ministry that it was opting for two airports in the state. This has rendered the old political slogans of "Dabolim for ever, Mopa never" and "Never say never to Mopa" absolutely redundant. The new slogan could well be: "It takes two airports to tango in Goa". The support for this stand has come from the ICAO which after a year's deliberation concluded that airports like Mopa neednt be based solely on economics but needed to take social and political imperatives into account also. This pointed the way to two airports in Goa and the state government has duly recommended the two-airport option to the civil aviation ministry. This is consistent with the latter's conception of having an airport in every Indian district. So Goa could proactively seek to be a laboratory for this concept with one airport (Mopa) in North Goa and one (Dabolim civil enclave) in South Goa . The problem is that this has never been done so far in India to our knowledge. In the case of Kochi, Bangalore and Hyderabad the civil aviation ministry gave undertakings to the private developers that the civil enclaves would close. Now people in Bangalore and Hyderabad are realizing that there will be serious problems of traveling great distances over inconvenient routes to catch flights from the new airports. To add insult to injury high User Development Fees (UDFs) of the order of Rs700-Rs1000 which were also agreed to in advance, are likely to be levied on each outgoing ticket. These are the main ways to enable these white elephants to be viable. So designing and running Mopa and Dabolim airports, in tandem (as a "system"), without common ownership, will be a pioneering exercise. It has to be done right, that too over a span of at least 20-25 years. Otherwise, it might put Dabolim civil enclave out of business and the latter will close in a matter of a few years at the most after Mopa goes onstream, with the former reverting to the military. Alternatively, Mopa will remain stunted and air travel to and from Goa will continue to be at the mercy of the military at Dabolim. So there has to be upgradation and modernisation at Dabolim and, simultaneously, "calibrated growth from a standing start" at Mopa. All this requires an active and sensible involvement of Goa government in what is after all a key infrastructural system (i.e. of two airports) in the state. This would be uncharted territory for Goa government, to put it mildly. One challenge it may encounter at a very early stage is the threat to locate the new airport at Sindhudurg. This must be countered vigorously by the state government. Maharashtra government is unlikely to pay much heed to Goa 's need to keep Dabolim civil enclave open for historical and practical reasons. It will just go ahead and build a big airport with private money and the developer will ask for Dabolim to be closed (except for VIP flights) and the civil aviation ministry will abjectly agree. Or else the new Sindhudurg airport will be such as to put Dabolim out of business in the normal course. The end result will be the same -- Goa will not have ANY airport of its own in five to ten years. That would not be a good thing for the state and its people in the 21st century. The two airport problem requires a non-partisan approach on the part of our politicians, or at least a bi-partisan one by the two big national parties. They have to bury their political differences on the issue for the sake of the state's long term welfare. Long term does not mean 10, 20 or 30 years LATER. It means doing things NOW, and in a steady stream of sensible and timely actions, for 20-30 years and, ideally, for all time. So the planned question should, at the very least, be re-phrased to enquire how MP would implement the two Goan airport option, which has been officially recommended to the civil aviation ministry. Remember, Mopa must take root and grow (to relieve Dabolim) and Dabolim must never close (due to Mopa). That's the new mantra.
