GBA project receives loan approval of $30m

KATHMANDU:

The Gautam Buddha Airport upgradation project has finally received a loan approval of $30 million from Asian Development Bank to restart the project at Bhairahawa.

“We have received an approval for a loan of $30 million and within a few days the ADB will also provide us with the clearance letter of bidding documents so that we can announce a global tender for the project,” said project director of the Gautam Buddha Airport Upgrading Component under the South Asia Tourism Infrastructure Development Project - Nepal Murari Bhandari.

“We are planning to announce a global tender within November after receiving the clearance letter from ADB,” Bhandari said.

The ADB and the government had earlier provided a total of $38.15 million for the GBA project.

Due to the failure to arrange adequate funds on time, the government had postponed its plan to complete the Gautam Buddha Airport upgradation project by two years from 2015. The project now is expected to be completed by 2017.

The Gautam Buddha Airport Upgrading Component was actually a five-year project (2010–2015). However, it could not start work on time because of fund crunch. Concurrently, changes were also made to the original plan, which increased the project cost and ultimately pushed back plans to start the bidding process.

A study conducted in 2007-08 had estimated the total project cost to be at around $38.15 million.

However, the project cost soared to $90 million after a Korean company completed the final design and construction survey.

Once the project is completed, the airport located in Bhairahawa will have a 3000-metre long runway with the ability to handle international flights and wide-body aircraft.

The airport will also have a new international terminal and an upgraded domestic terminal.

Source: THT