Parrikar says Goa not rushing to construct new airport

Panaji: The Goa government is not in a hurry to construct Mopa Airport and it will follow all legal provisions required for the project, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said. He said the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project is yet to be completed. “For all those who think that government is in a hurry or wants to impose airport on them, I want to say that we are not in a hurry. We are going as per legal provisions,” he told reporters yesterday. [caption id=“attachment_1119763” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Goa CM, Manohar Parrikar, said the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the new airport project is yet to be completed.[/caption] The Greenfield airport project at Mopa was being opposed by a section of people from South Goa who claimed that the new airport in North Goa would severely affect tourism in the South district. The state government has already acquired the land required for the airport, to be constructed and run by a private party. The chief minister had earlier announced in the state Legislative Assembly that the airport needed to be completed in time as the inflow of passengers at the current Dabolim airport was on rise and in future, the existing facility would not be able to cater to such a demand. PTI