PORVORIM: Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Monday accused Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of being the first chief minister to cause a loss of Rs 207 crore to the State exchequer by amending the Concessionaire Agreement with the Mopa International Airport promoter GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL), by a cabinet decision and extending 36.99 per cent revenue sharing holiday.
Vijai who had tabled a joint starred question along with Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira in the Legislative Assembly, said that the State was supposed to get revenue sharing from May 31, 2024, and now it will start from December 7 this year. He alleged that the revenue sharing holiday was extended due to only 20 days of Covid-19 pandemic as per the reply.
Though the Chief Minister could not spell out the revenue the government would get from the Mopa airport operator, he told the House that the State government’s 36.99 per cent of revenue from the GGIAL will be payable from December 7, 2024.
Vijai argued that the government does not know the gross revenue of the GGIAL and how much revenue the State will get and the loss to the exchequer due to the cabinet decision to extend revenue sharing by six months.
Coughing up the figures, the Fatorda MLA pointed out that the GGIAL had stated to its borrowers that its gross revenue would be Rs 960 crore for 2024-25, and hence the loss to the State exchequer would be to the extent of Rs 207 crore.
Vijai and Ferreira sought to know details and compliance report of the green belt set up at the Mopa airport. However, the Chief Minister admitted that the GGIAL had so far not created the green belt around the airport as per Supreme Court guidelines issued in January 2020.
Sawant further stated that the GGIAL had sought time to develop the 693 acres green belt with native tree species covering the entire periphery of the Mopa airport. At the same time, he informed the House that 10 times compensatory plantation as mandated by the Supreme Court had already been done by planting 5.5 lakh saplings. Their survival rate was monitored and mortality was replenished by the Goa State Biodiversity Board.
Regarding opposition members raising the issue of compensation not paid to the land losers, Sawant clarified that compensation was pending of only those who had not submitted proper property documents.
The State government had acquired 2,100 acres of land for the Mopa airport project in Pernem taluka.