Vasco: Transport minister Mauvin Godinho on Saturday said the state government has plans to make Goa a ‘logistics hub’. He also elaborated on the government’s plans to convert the Goa International Airport at Dabolim into a cargo hub in the near future. Speaking to reporters, Godinho said that locals were worried that after the commissioning of the Mopa airport, the airport at Dabolim would lose its relevance. “I can safely say that the Dabolim airport will give the Mopa airport stiff competition. The former has recently been modernised at a cost of Rs 450 crore while an additional Rs 250 crore is being utilised for its expansion,” the Dabolim MLA said. Since the Mopa International Airport is bigger than its Dabolim counterpart, it will accommodate jumbo aircrafts, and a facility for repairs of aircrafts will also be made available there, he said. Godinho also said that the state needs a ‘multi-model’ hub on the lines of Singapore, Dubai and other such countries that are equipped with infrastructure to handle container cargo on a bigger scale. “A facility like this will open up a whole lot of new job opportunities and Goan youth will not need to move out of the state to hunt for jobs,” the transport minister said.
The building has a capacity of 565 vehiclesVasco: The Dabolim airport has finally been given the permission by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to operate a multi-level car parking.Confirming this, director of the Dabolim airport Gagan Malik said, “Now that we have been given the permission to operate the multi-level car parking, we will inaugurate the building within this month.”The building housing the car parking has a capacity to park around 565 cars. Though built around 6-7 years back, the multi-level car parking was not operational, as the permission was awaited.It may be noted that the go-ahead was not being granted to the multi-level car parking due to security reasons, as it is located adjacent to the terminal building and the runway. The much-awaited nod will now finally help decongest the present parking at the airport.Malik said, “Goa’s airport is the third largest in handling flights and passengers in the country. From October to mid-Feb, the Dabolim airport had been very busy in handling flights. It has been a record in the history of Goa that we even handled 102 scheduled domestic flights and eight non-scheduled domestic flights, with a total of 110 domestic flights in a day.”Malik also said that as per the rules, every airport must make arrangements for various modes of transport for the comfort of the passengers. “Working on these lines and after holding brief discussions with the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC), we have started Kadamba buses with a nominal fare,” he said.
