Panaji, Jan 30 (UNI) Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday informed State Assembly that there could be a delay in the commissioning of phase I of Mopa Airport due to stay on tree cutting earlier and status quo ordered by the Supreme Court this month.
In a written reply in response to a question asked by BJP MLA Rajesh Patnekar, the Chief Minister, who also holds Aiport Portfolio, he said, 'Construction of Phase I of Mopa Airport has commenced and is expected to be commissioned by September 2020 as per Concession Agreement... As per Concession Agreement the Phase I of the airport is to be commissioned by September 2020. However, there could be a delay in the commissioning of Phase I due to stay on tree cutting earlier and status quo ordered by the Supreme Court vide order dated 18/1/2019.'
He said the airport would be constructed in four phases with design capacity of 4.4 million passengers per annum (mppa), 5.8 mppa, 9.4 mppa and 13.1 mppa. The project had an ultimate potential of over 30 mppa, he said, adding the project component comprised Code E runway (A320 aircrafts) in Phase I and II, Code F runway in Phase III to cater wide bodied aircrafts, cargo terminal and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO).