 "Laxmikant Parsekar (Photo: Facebook)")
Bids for the second airport in Goa will be finalised by next February and construction will begin next August, Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar said today.
"The construction for first phase is expected to be complete in 36 months and the first flight from the new Mopa airport will take off in 2019," Parsekar said. He was speaking at SITA's Aviation ICT forum.
Airport Authority of India, GVK, GMR and Essel Infrastructure are amongst the companies shortlisted to participate in the bidding process and Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued by month-end.
The minister said the existing Dabolim airport will not be shut down and both old and new airport will operate simultaneously.
A second airport is being planned at Mopa, Goa because of capacity constraints at the Indian Navy-run Dabolim airport.
The new airport at Mopa will have an overall capacity for 13 million passengers and development will be done in four phases. In the first phase, it will handle 4.4 million passengers. By 2019, air traffic in Goa is expected to reach 9 million users and will be handled by both airports.
Parsekar said the Mopa will also have a maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) and aviation training centres.
