Panaji, Mar 8 (UNI) United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will soon lay a foundation stone for expansion work of the Dabolim airport in Goa for which the Indian Navy had accorded approval for transfer of its land.

''With this, one of the long pending problems of the state is solved and the bottleneck in expansion of the Dabolim airport removed ,''Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane said in a statement here today.

The Ministry of Defence and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) have now agreed on mutual exchange of land to facilitate expansion of the apron under the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, he said.

Incidentally, the Goa airport, under the operation control of the Indian Navy, has been facing congestion with foreign and domestic flights traffic, including chartered flights on rise every year.

The Chief Minister also made a mention of the need for strengthening of the Goa airport besides co-existnce of the proposed international airport at Mopa in North Goa to meet the burgeoning needs of the air traffic.

The ICAO, authorised by the six-member central committee headed by the CM, had already sought an approval of the Centre for undertaking a techno-economic feasibility study for the Mopa airport.

UNI