Stakeholders urge govt to accelerate construction

POKHARA, MAR 25 -

Stakeholders have urged the government not to delay the construction of the regional international airport in Pokhara.

At a meeting organised by the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) here on Saturday, more than 53 business, political, professional and civil society organisations in Pokhara asked the government to accelerate the national priority project without any delay.

“The regional international airport is a national priority project. It should be completed in the stipulated time,” states a press release issued by the organisations. They have also decided to hold talks with the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Ministry, Tourism Ministry and Parliament’s Public Account Committee (PAC) on this issue.

The government had announced building the airport over three decades ago. For the purpose, it acquired land at Chhinedana in 1976. The government had initiated the process to construct the airport after China´s Exim Bank agreed to give soft loans worth Rs 12 billion.

However, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract process ran into rough weather after the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) sought details of the process and the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) summoned Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun and senior officials from the Tourism Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) over the process.

The PAC summoned Pun for signing a memorandum of understanding with China CAMC Engineering Company, promising support to the company in the bid process even before CAAN invited the bid. Under the PAC’s instruction, the government extended the deadline for the bid by 30 days.

Source: Kantipur