PANAJI: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday informed that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stones for two prestigious projects – Mopa International Greenfield Airport, at Mopa and the Electronic Manufacturing Clusters, (EMC)/ Electronic City on the Tuem village plateau, during a special function to be held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, on November 13, at 11.30 a. m.
Parsekar, addressing a press conference in the presence of the Minister for Panchayati Raj Rajendra Arlekar, who is also the Pernem MLA, said that the government will also ink the Concession Agreement with GMR Airports Ltd on November 8, the day his government completes two years in the office.
“The first phase of the airport would be completed by 2019-20 and allow the airport to handle 4.5 million passengers, per year,” Parsekar added, pointing out that this capacity would be incrementally increased to 13 million passengers, per year, and then touch the ultimate capacity of 28 million passengers, annually, by the end of the phase four.
The state government has acquired 84,68,261 sq mts or 2,093 acres of land, for the project, out of which 381 acres of land has been earmarked for city side development, the Chief Minister informed, adding that furthermore, out of this 381 acres of land, 149 acres is reserved for restricted use, while 252 acres for unrestricted use pertaining to commercial development. “This acquired land is located in villages namely Varconda, Casarvarnem, Amberem, Uguem, Mopa and Chandel,” he noted.
Speaking further, Parsekar said that the Mopa airport will have Code 4F runway capable of landing Airbus A380. “The proposed airport will have unrestricted flight operations as well as state-of-the-art airport terminal building,” he revealed, observing that the new airport will have significant impact on the state air traffic as well as job creation, and increase in the overall economy of Goa.
Furthermore, the Chief Minister stated that due to absence of time restrictions for the aircrafts, the Mopa International Greenfield Airport would provide benefits to airline companies such as efficient fleet and route planning, as per their convenience, and therefore, the ticket cost would be much competitive.
He also said that the Dabolim Airport would continue to operate as an international airport, even after the commissioning of the Mopa Airport.
Speaking about the proposed Tuem-based Electronic Manufacturing Clusters, Parsekar said that the project would be spread on 5,97,125 sq mts of land. “It will provide basic services like entrance plaza, internal roads, storm water drainage and street lighting,” he added, pointing out that essential services such as water supply network with water treatment plant, sewerage collection system, truck terminal and warehousing, electricity distribution with power backup, and government support office would also be present.
It was also informed that the welfare services would include hotels and caterers, employee residences, local shopping centre, restaurant and so on.
The Chief Minister said that the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has given in-principle clearance for the EMC and sanctioned an assistance of Rs 50 crore. “We have already sent the related detailed project report to the Centre, and are hoping for upgradation of this assistance to Rs 70 crore, within a fortnight,” he mentioned.
“Both these projects would change the direction of Goa’s development towards rural areas,” Parsekar observed, pointing out that skill development would be the main criteria for the EMC project, with Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics in the state utilised for the purpose.
On a parting note, Parsekar mentioned that following the recent BRICS Summit in Goa, a Chinese company desired 80 acres of land in the Electronic City to set up its 3D printing unit, which is a new concept in technology. “However, before allotting such a large land, we are studying the background and financial status of the particular company,” he concluded.