Centre Approves Goa's Rs 3,300-Cr Greenfield International Airport at Mopa

The Union government on Wednesday gave its green nod for the development of new international airport project in Goa, news agency PTI reported.

The Rs 3,300-crore greenfield airport will be developed at the Mopa village, located in north of Goa, 35km north of state capital Panaji.

The clearance comes after the Environment Ministry's expert appraisal committee (EAC) , at its meeting on October 20, recommended it.

"As per the recommendation of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) , the Ministry of Environment hereby accords environment clearance (EC) for the project greenfield international airport at Mopa," the Union Environment Ministry said in the EC letter written to the Goa government.

The new airport will be developed in four phases and it will have an annual passenger capacity of 13.1 million by 2045.

The nod comes amid apprehension by environmentalists regarding the project. They said they would approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the environmental clearance, Mint reported.

However, the green nod has been given to the project subject to the compliance of certain specific and general conditions like the Goa government's Directorate of Civil Aviation has been asked to ensure availability of adequate land at the junction of the Mopa airport road and Mumbai-Goa NH-17 for traffic circulation, and to provide all traffic interchanges and proposed clover, PTI report added.

It has also been asked to get approval of National Highways Authority of India  (NHAI) for the approach and exit roads to the airport.

In the first phase, the state government has proposed to develop one runway, with half parallel taxi-way, three runway exits by 2020 to accommodate annual passenger capacity of 4.4 million. The estimated cost of the project in Phase-I would be Rs 1,500 crore.