Navy to extend cooperation for Dabolim airport in Goa

New Delhi, May 12 (UNI) In an effort to expand capacity of Goa's Dabolim Airport, armed forces have agreed to cooperate with the civil aviation ministry in several areas, including provision of additional land and making parallel taxiways.

''The navy has agreed in principle to look into all issues favourably,'' said civil aviation minister Praful Patel, after a meeting with Goa's deputy chief minister Wilfred D'souza and armed forces officials here.

So long as a new airport, proposed at Mopa, does not come up, the capacity at the Dabolim Airport needs be expanded, he said.

For this, detailed discussions have been going on between the three sides for several months now. Goa has emerged as a major attraction for international and domestic tourists with their arrivals growing dramatically.

Official sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked the ministry to find ways and means to expand capacity at the present airport following protests by certain quarters over a proposal to construct a new airport at Mopa.

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