Cargo terminal at Goa airport soon
PANAJI: Within the next two months the Dabolim airport will be able to handle international cargo operations. Work to convert the old airport terminal into a full-fledged cargo terminal has already begun, said Dabolim airport director K Srinivasa Rao.
"The civil engineer is studying the layout of the building to examine whether the pillars have to be moved or which sections have to be removed. The design phase you could say," deputy general manager Dabolim airport terminal Anil Thakur said.
At present only domestic cargo flights operate at Dabolim airport and all cargo is routed through the Sada warehouse, Thakur said. Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is the principal stakeholder in the airport, has awarded Container Corporation of India Limited a five-year contract to operate the common user terminal for cargo at Dabolim.
Once completed, the common user terminal for cargo or cargo terminal would be able to cater to both domestic and international cargo flights on a continuous basis, sources said.
"The international airport at Dabolim is not equipped to process cargo currently but once the 24x7 cargo terminal comes up it will be good for Goa. That is what the efforts are on for," Thakur said. A team of senior officials from AAI had come to inspect the old terminal a couple of weeks ago, sources said.
The Goa chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has long campaigned for the development of a cargo hub at Dabolim so that it could cater to pharma and perishable cargo exports and imports.
Sources said that all the stakeholders would meet the state principal secretary R K Srivastava within the next few days to finalize the design plans. Once all pending issues are ironed out, work will proceed at a faster pace, sources said.
Rao also stated that airlines will be able to park their aircraft overnight at the Dabolim airport once the runway resurfacing work is completed. "We have received permission for overnight parking," he said.
The Indian Navy has undertaken the long pending work to resurface the runway. Work to resurface either sides of the runway began on April 1, while the process to repair the central part of the runway began on April 15 and is expected to continue till June 15.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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