GMR Airports was selected to create and operate the new INR30 billion (US$446 million) Mopa Airport on a greenfield site in the state, following a competitive bidding process. It won the bid ahead of Airports Authority of India and a consortium involving South Korea’s Incheon airport group.
GMR, which has also worked on airport projects in Turkey and the Philippines, will have a 40-year concession for the new Goa airport, with a possible 20-year extension. The new hub will help expand the resort enclave’s air capacity; the existing Dabolim Airport handles up to 4.9 million passengers per year, but future expansion is constrained due to military use.
The new airport will be built in four phases, with capacity gradually increasing from 4.4m passengers per year in the first phase to more than 13m by the end of the fourth phase.
The decision to allow GMR to develop Mopa Airport comes more than 15 years after the Indian government originally approved plans for the facility to be built.
(Mark Elliott)