History
Goa's current airport at Dabolim is a civil enclave operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at a military airfield owned by the Indian Navy. Civilian and military operations share a common runway, resulting in severe airside congestion. This deters the long-term growth of civilian traffic at the airport.[13]
It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee's flagship project. The Government of India had given its in-principle approval for a second airport in the state of Goa as early as March 2000. However, land acquisition issues and local litigation stalled the project for 14 years.
The ICAO's techno-economic feasibility report submitted in 2013, which projected air traffic of 10 million passengers at Goa by 2035, eventually established the feasibility of the Mopa project.[16] The Goa Government issued a Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the project in October 2014.[17] Five bidders, GMR Group, GVK Group, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Essel Infra, and Voluptas developers, expressed interest. Essel Infra partnered with Zurich Airports, and Voluptas Developers, which belongs to the Hiranandani Group, tied up with Vinci Airports, Rome, to bid for the airport project.[18] On October 28, 2015, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granted environmental clearance to the project.[19] The Request for Proposal (RFP) for the project was issued in January 2016, seeking bids from interested companies to construct the airport. Two of the five companies that responded to the RFQ decided not to participate in the RFP.[18] The bids were opened in August 2016. GMR Airports Limited, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited, won the competitive bid to develop and operate the airport. The Airports Authority of India emerged as the second-highest bidder, followed by the consortium of Essel Infra-Incheon. In October, GMR Airports Limited formed the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL) to raise funds for, design, construct, and run the project.[6] GMR Airports Ltd signed a concession agreement with the Government of Goa on 8 November 2016.[15]
In 2016, the state government proposed to establish an aviation skill development center in order to provide employment opportunities at the airport to local youth.[20] The concessionaire would be required to give preference to bona fide Goans for all jobs at the airport.[21] This Aviation Skill Development Centre was initially to be set up by the concessionaire either at the Pernem ITI campus or any other ITI center. However, in 2020, the location of the proposed centre was shifted to the airport premises itself.[22]
Project completion and Inauguration
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the project on 13 November 2016.[23] The State Government acquired 78.41 lakh square meters of land for the airport from the villages of Casarvarnem, Chandel, Varconda, Uguem, and Mopa in Pernem taluka.[24] In January 2017, the Goa Government declared an area within a five km2 radius of the airport as the 'Mopa International Airport planning area' for the purpose of regulating growth near the project area.[25]
GGIAL and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Delhi on 31 March 2017 for necessary support from the center to develop the airport. The master plan of the airport was also reviewed and approved by Engineers India through a separate contract earlier in 2017.[26]
