PANAJI: GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL) plans to set up a logistics park on the 232 acres of commercial land available at Mopa, where Goa’s new greenfield airport is set to come up. With an eye on freight cargo, GGIAL plans to outsource the handling of the cargo to a specialist company through a concessionaire agreement, and has also started marketing activities, said deputy CEO Kanwarbir Singh Kalra.
Kalra, who was speaking at the CII Goa conference on logistics, said that GGIAL is working on all aspects required to promote logistics and cargo movement in Goa, particularly for the pharma sector. “We are planning to do something like a logistics park there,” said Kalra.
GMR, which operates the Hyderabad and Delhi airports, expects cargo movement from Goa to cross 1,00,000 metric tonnes by around 2045. “We are planning for that, we have earmarked that much space in our land to handle air cargo movement, and we have kept the facility for a cargo terminal,” said Kalra.
Kalra said that despite the challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, construction work on the airport is on at full speed. “Work on the airside, ATC towers, passenger terminal building and admin building is currently on in full swing. We are targeting 2022 for the airport launch. We are on track and should be able to deliver the airport by August 2022.”
GGIAL also said that wide body aircraft will be able to operate from the airport.
“Goa’s industry is mostly pharma, and we understand that an ecosystem is required to handle such cargo. Our team is already working on airline marketing, and we are participating in global forums related to airline marketing. We are meeting airlines directly,” said Kalra.
Kalra also said that the marketing for cargo services will be done by both the concessionaire and GGIAL. “We will be there to make sure that the concessionaire does what is required. This is an ecosystem that has to work together. There will be a concessionaire and there is a dedicated marketing team within GGIAL that is working with airlines and airports,” said Kalra.
Source: https://m-timesofindia-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/m.timesofindia.com/city/goa/gmr-planning-logistics-park-near-mopa-airport/amp_articleshow/78863739.cms