Goa pitches for greenfield investment

The Government of Goa has identified certain thrust areas for greenfield and brownfield investment that includes infrastructure sectors like roads and bridges, airports and aerospace, ports and terminals, power, and water and wastewater management as well as other areas like biotechnology, logistics and educational hubs, tourism, light engineering, and agro-based and food processing industries. The investment in the top 10 ongoing projects alone stands at nearly Rs. 10,000 crore (see table).

A look at some of the key ongoing and upcoming projects in Goa:

Airports: In this sector, for instance, Airports Authority of India has renovated the existing terminal at Dabolim Airport at a cost of around Rs. 500 crore even as plans are being firmed up to build a new international airport Mopa at an estimated cost of Rs. 3,800 crore. The new airport is being designed to handle four million passengers, in addition to four million at Dabolim, to create a total capacity of eight million by 2018. The Mopa airport facility will contain a cargo hub and MRO facilities.

Logistics: The Goa government is planning to establish three logistics hubs in Pernem, Dharbandora and Canacona.

The Pernem hub is planned to be developed first through the PPP route and will consist of an inland container depot, warehouse and truck terminal, cold storage, perishable agri-produce and hazardous cargo facilities, workshops and container repairs. The project will cover an area of around 5 lakh sq. metres.

The Dharbandora hub will also be set up over an area of 5 lakh sq. metres and in addition to all the facilities at Pernem, it will also consist of a container freight station. A fuel pipeline between Mormugao Port and the Dharbandora hub is also planned to reduce the pressure on road infrastructure leading to the port.

Likewise, the Canacona hub will consist of a warehousing, truck terminal, cold storage facilities, perishable agri-produce facilities and workshops among others.

Ports and terminals: Apart from the ongoing modernisation of Mormugao Port, one of India’s major ports, the government is in the process of improving the infrastructure at minor ports in Panaji, Chapora, Betul, Talpona and Tiracol. It is also installing vessel traffic and port management system in Panaji port. This will soon be replicated at the other minor ports.

The government also plans to use Goa’s vast inland waterway network to reduce logistics time and cost. Existing underutilised jetties are proposed to be upgraded to handle break-bulk cargo while new jetties are being planned at Borim and Amona to handle containers. There are also plans for several other jetties at various locations. Goa has 255 km of rivers and canals a large portion of which is navigable.

Roads and highways: While construction work on expansion of NH-17 between Mumbai and Goa is already underway (see facing page), the government is also improving over 10,000 km of state highways. The state’s 269 km of national highway consists of NH-17 which runs along the west coast linking Goa to Mumbai in the north and Mangalore in the south, and NH-4A which connects capital city Panaji to Belgaum in Karnataka. Work on widening NH-4A to four lanes is also underway.

The Goa government is developing many of these and other projects in PPP mode so as to attract both domestic and foreign investment.