The commissioning of the international airport in Mopa in North Goa will make the existing one at Dabolim a "ghost airport", the state's leader of opposition in the Assembly Yuri Alemao said on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the first phase of the Mopa international airport on December 11.
"It is obvious the existing airport in Dabolim would turn into a ghost airport once Mopa airport is commissioned. History has shown two airports cannot function in one state. In Goa too, history will be repeated," Alemai claimed while talking to reporters here. The state government must work out some "innovative way" to ensure both facilities are operational together, the Congress leader added.
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The airport at Mopa in North Goa, being built at a cost of Rs 2,870 crore on 2,312 acres, can handle 44 lakh passengers per annum in the first phase and one crore when it is complete, the CM had said earlier in the day.
The existing Dabolim airport has the capacity to handle 85 lakh passengers in a year, but it does not have the facility for cargo transportation, which is available at the new airport, the CM said, adding both airports will co-exist.
(With PTI inputs)
