Panaji: Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation General V K Singh on Wednesday said that both Dabolim and Mopa airports will function simultaneously and Dabolim Airport will not be closed for civil aviation.
“This (closure of Dabolim Airport) is unfounded perception. A decision was taken by the cabinet in 2010 that both the airports will function simultaneously. None of them will be closed. We all have accepted the decision,” he told the media here.
Singh said the government will provide more connectivity for the Mopa airport.
Dabolim Airport will remain unaffected with the opening of Mopa Airport, he said.
“Mopa airport is for the additional traffic which Dabolim will get,” he said, adding traffic management will be done in such a way that non of the airports will face loss.
“There is in no doubt in the central government’s mind. I will urge people not to get away with the reports,” he said.
Recently Oman Airways had announced that it will operate from Mopa airport from January next year, not from Dabolim.
Ever since the second airport was proposed a decade ago, the sensitive issue of Dabolim eventually losing out to Mopa to an extent that its civilian commercial operations altogether shutting down has been debated off and on in the coastal state.
Mopa airport is being developed on a BOOT basis by the concessionaire GMR Airports Ltd. Once completed, it is eventually expected to handle 13.1 million passengers annually.
