Goa's Mopa airport delayed by a year: CM

Panaji, July 15 (IANS) The commissioning of the upcoming Mopa international airport will be delayed by a year on account of a Supreme Court order, which has impeded on-site work, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday.

"Due to status quo order by the Supreme Court, the construction of Mopa Airport is getting delayed and expected to be commissioned in 2021," Sawant, who also holds the Civil Aviation portfolio, told the Assembly in a written reply.

To the question asked by former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Pratapsingh Rane who sought to know the exact quantum of progress at the airport site, Sawant said: "Physical progress achieved so far is 14.28 per cent." 

Developed jointly by the Goa government and GMR, the greenfield airport located in North Goa district is expected to handle 30 million passenger traffic when it is fully operational.

The first phase of the airport was expected to be completed in 2020. However, the Supreme Court had stopped work on-site after a petition alleged that thousands of trees were being illegally cut at the airport site by the developers.