Goa's Dabolim airport to get
Rs 500 cr for development

Centre studying plan for second airport a Mopa in Goa

BY A CORRESPONDENT
14th January 2006
The Union government has agreed to provide Rs 500 crore for modernising the Dabolim airport in southern Goa. This was announced by AICC general secretary Margeret Alva. She said an expert panel named by prime minister Manmohan Singh will soon submit a report on the issue of the proposed international airport for Goa at Mopa, which is close to the Maharashtra border.

Earlier, over the issue of the Mopa international airport, the Goa chief minister had led a high-level delegation to Delhi and met the prime minister, defence minister and bureaucrats.

Goa's Mopa international airport plan has irked some in Goa, especially South Goa MP Churchill Alemao who says that the second airport will be benefit Maharashtra more than Goa. He has gone on record saying that it will hit Goa's tourism industry.

According to Margaret Alva, the expert group will study the feasibility of the Mopa international airport and see how it can be of use to Goa and Maharashtra.