Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The much-awaited Mopa International Airport in Goa will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday — a milestone for India’s smallest state in terms of area and one of the most-popular tourist destinations in the sub-continent.
It has been the constant endeavour of the Prime Minister to provide world class infrastructure and transport facilities across the country. In yet another step towards this, Prime Minister will inaugurate the Mopa International Airport, Goa. The foundation stone of the airport was laid by the Prime Minister in November 2016.
Developed at a cost of around Rs 2,870 crores, the airport has been built on the theme of sustainable infrastructure and has solar power plant, green buildings, LED lights on the runway, rain water harvesting, state of the art sewage treatment plant with recycling facilities, among other such facilities.
It has adopted some of the best-in-class technologies like 3-D Monolithic Precast buildings, StabilRoad, Robomatic Hollow precast walls, 5G compatible IT infrastructure. Some of the features of the airport include runway capable of handling world’s largest aircrafts, 14 parking bays along with night parking facility for aircrafts, self-baggage drop facilities, state of the art and independent air navigation infrastructure, among others.
Initially, phase I of the Airport will cater to around 4.4 million passengers per annum (MPPA), which can be expanded to a saturation capacity of 33 MPPA. The airport will boost socio-economic development of the State and serve the needs of the tourism industry. It has the potential of serving as a key logistics hub, directly connecting many domestic and international destinations. It is also planned for the airport to have multi-modal connectivity.
While being a world-class airport, the airport will also provide visitors a feel and experience of Goa. The airport has extensively used Azulejos tiles, which are native to Goa. The food court also recreates the charm of a typical Goan café. It will also have a designated area for a curated flea market where local artisans and craftsmen will be encouraged to display and market their wares.
Prime Minister will also inaugurate three National Ayush Institutes and address the valedictory function of 9th World Ayurveda Congress.
The three institutes – All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa, National Institute of Unani Medicine (NIUM), Ghaziabad and National Institute of Homoeopathy (NIH), Delhi – will further strengthen research and international collaborations and will also facilitate affordable Ayush services for people. Developed at a total cost of about Rs 970 crores, they will together increase the intake of students by around 400 along with addition of about 500 hospital beds.
The 9th edition of World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) & Arogya Expo is witnessing active participation of more than 400 overseas delegates representing over 50 countries, international students and various other stakeholders of Ayurveda. The theme of the 9th edition of WAC is “Ayurveda for One Health”.
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