CAAN told to fast-track airport projects in Pokhara, Bhairahawa
KATHMANDU, AUG 17 -
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ram Kumar Shrestha has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to fast-track the process of the development of the planned regional international airport s at Pokhara and Bhairahawa.
Shrestha has given CAAN a month to finalize the agreement to build the proposed airport in Pokhara and invite bids for the upgradation of Bhairahawa airport into Gautam Buddha regional international airport .
“The government is ready to clear all the hurdles in the way of these projects,” said Shrestha, speaking at the 13th annual general meeting of the Nepal Air Traffic Controllers Association here on Friday. The government has sought a soft loan from China EXIM Bank to build the airport in Pokhara, a lakeside city popular with tourists located in the foothills of the Annapurna range in central Nepal.
Meanwhile, the US$ 90.6 million airport project in Bhairahawa will be financed by a $ 42.96 million loan and $ 12.75 million grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the South Asia Tourism Infrastructure Development Project. The OPEC Fund for International Development, as a co-financing arm of the ADB, is providing a $ 15 million loan. The Nepal government will be contributing $ 29.17 million to the regional international airport in Bhairahawa.
Located in south central Nepal, the industrial town of Bhairahawa is the gateway to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and an international pilgrimage destination.
However, with regard to the proposed second international airport (SIA) in Nijgadh, Bara, Shrestha said that it would take some time to complete procedures.
Among the other projects CAAN has planned are procurement of an aircraft for airline inspection and construction of a five-star airport hotel under the built-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) modality. CAAN owns 116 ropanis of land at Sinamangal next to the airport .
CAAN has submitted the hotel proposal to the Finance Ministry for its approval. Shrestha urged CAAN to proceed with the proposal and pledged his support. “As the proposal is stuck at the Finance Ministry, I will speak to them.”
Meanwhile, Shrestha gave the go-ahead to CAAN to raise the airport tax. It has proposed charging Rs 1,000 per passenger on top of the Rs 1,130 presently being levied as passenger service charge on international flights. The airport tax is Rs 791 for South Asians.
On April 21, the CAAN board had approved charging travellers departing from TIA a development fee to raise funds to repay its loans and finance the ongoing airport improvement project.
Speaking at the same occasion, CAAN Director General Ratish Chandra Lal Suman said that there had been much talk in the last two decades about developing an alternative airport to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), but nothing had happened. “As a result, TIA, the sole international airport , has been under such tremendous air traffic pressure that it has become difficult to find time to repair the runway.”
Suman said that according to airport economics, an airport becomes unviable if there is significant holding, diversion and delay of aircraft. Such a case exists at TIA, he added. “It has become urgent to upgrade Gautam Buddha airport into a regional international airport as an alternative to TIA,” he said. An alternative airport will allow TIA to repair its runway, he added, in a reference to recent cases of flights having to be diverted due to its poor condition.
Similarly, TIA General Manager Dinesh Prasad Shrestha said that TIA handled 450 takeoffs and landings daily during the peak season, and that it had become a challenge to handle such traffic with limited resources. “The government should bear in mind that without airport s, there is no growth in tourism. Hence, an alternative airport has become a dire need.”
Source: The Kathmandu Post
