Ministry readies to award second international airport project
KATHMANDU: Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation plans to complete the selection process of the company to handover the Second International Airport project construction soon.
“We have received the final reports from Land Mark Worldwide Company about two months ago,” joint secretary the ministry Ranjan Krishna Aryal said, adding that and the ministry is now waiting for its proposal and application for the second international airport project.
As soon as the LMW Company submits its application, the project will be handed over within nine months, he said, adding that the Land Mark Worldwide Company submitted its application and proposal to the ministry but the the ministry has not been able to open public bidding.
“Land Mark Worldwide Company is our first preference as about Rs 250 million has already been spent by the company on the report preparation till date,” he said. “The ministry is waiting for the company to submit application and proposal after which we will go through our final negotiations with the South Korean company.
“If incase the negotiation with the company fails, we will definitely give chance to other companies,” according to Aryal.
Land Mark Worldwide Company had submitted its final report of project study of the second international airport, which has been estimated to cost $600 million.
Earlier it had completed the feasibility study at Nijgarh in Bara. “As it has already spent about Rs 250 million in the study and report preparation of the project, we will give first priority to the South Korean company, which will submit its proposal within a week,” Aryal said.
The proposal will be forwarded to the Built Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) committee that is under National Planning Commission which will further forward it to the Cabinet for final decision.
The company in its feasibility study has already presented ideas for the runway, terminal and services of the proposed international airport.
Nepal is in need of second international airport as in the recent years, around two dozen international airlines are flying to the country. Some more international airlines are interested to fly to Kathmandu as the visitors number has seen significant rise in the recent years after the country entered into a Comprehensive Peace Accord with the UCPN-Maoist.
Currently, Tribhuvan International Airport is the only international airport in the country that has one runway, which single engine aircraft and big aircraft both use.
The feasibility study of second international airport states that the proposed airport could handle five to 15 million passengers annually and even accommodate the super-jumbo Airbus 380 after the first phase of construction.
But the South Korean company in its final report has also added some of its conditions. The company has asked the government to make the Tribhuvan International Airport a domestic one.
Meanwhile, the ministry has also recommended the government to waive tax and custom charges to minimise the project cost.
Source: THT
