The Union ministry of environment and forests granted environmental clearance for the proposed second international airport in Goa on Thursday, said minister Prakash Javadekar.
In a tweet, Javadekar said the proposed airport will pave way for the overall development of the region and boost tourism in the state.
“I am happy to announce that today I have given Environmental approval for Greenfield Mopa International Airport in #Goa. This will pave [the] way for overall development for the region and give [a] boost to tourism in the state,” Javadekar said.
The decision was welcomed by the State chief minister Pramod Sawant.
“My gratitude to Shri Prakash Javadekar ji for environmental approval to Mopa International Airport with addendums as per Hon’ble Supreme Court judgment, to the original EC,” Sawant tweeted.
In January this year, the Supreme Court of India lifted its moratorium on the construction of the airport after the expert appraisal committee of the ministry of environment and forests revised its earlier recommendations and imposed additional conditions on the construction of the project.
The Supreme Court also directed the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute to oversee compliance with the court’s directions, the costs for which will have to be borne by the State Government.
The project’s first phase was earlier scheduled to be completed by September 2020, but it stands revised to 2022 as per an announcement by the chief minister.
The second international airport for Goa, to be set up at Mopa village in the extreme north of Goa, about 35-kms from the state capital of Panaji, has faced opposition by activists since 2000, when it was first mooted.
The airport was scheduled to replace Goa’s existing Dabolim airport, which is also a naval base, however, owing to the opposition, it was decided to let civilian aircraft operations continue at Dabolim even after the commissioning of the new airport.
The new airport is set to cost around Rs 3,300 crore of which the first phase will cost around Rs 800 crore and allow for handling of around 3.4 million passengers. By the end of the fourth phase in 2045, the airport is scheduled to have a capacity of 13.1 million passengers.
The project was stayed on grounds that the environmental impact assessment report was flawed and concealed, among other things, that as many as 54,676 trees will require to be felled and that an ecologically sensitive zones on the Maharashtra side of the airport was within a 15km radius.
Source: HT
Image Courtesy: ToI
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