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Second international airport project stirs back to life

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The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has asked the National Planning Commission (NPC) to schedule a meeting to discuss expediting development of the proposed second international airport (SIA) in Nijgadh, Bara.

Tourism Minister Posta Bahadur Bogati said that his ministry had asked the NPC to hold a meeting to discuss ways to take the project ahead. The much talked about airport plan has been in limbo for almost two years.

A detailed feasibility study report conducted by Korea’s Landmark Worldwide Company (LMW) has been stuck at the NPC’s BOOT committee headed by NPC vice-chairman Deependra Bahadur Kshetry.

After the conference, the ministry will take the project to the Investment Board (IB) with the ideas offered by the committee, Bogati said.

“The committee will soon call a meeting.” Bogati added that it had become urgently necessary to bring the SIA online amid the air traffic congestion at the Tribhuvan International Airport, the country’s one and only air gateway. The MoCTCA responded with the proposal for a meeting after the NPC complained that it had not received the ministry’s position on the airport project’s implementation. After the government tossed the project to the IB, the Tourism Ministry had put it last on its list of priorities.  

The ministry expressed its interest to implement the project at the 28th meeting of the National Development Problem Solution Committee chaired by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. “The IB has been mandated to deal with the project and the ministry will play the role of a facilitator,” said Bogati. 

According to IB sources, it plans to call bids within the next three-six months after receiving the go-ahead from the NPC and the ministry. They said two Indian companies GMR Infrastructure and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) have shown interest to develop the project. Other companies from Germany, France and Singapore have also shown interest in the SIA.

On March 8, 2010, the government awarded the contract to carry out a detailed feasibility study to LMW. The estimated cost for the first phase of the project, according to the report, would be US$ 650 million. The SIA will cover 3,000 hectares of land (2,000 hectares for the airport and the rest for an airport city).

LMW’s study said the proposed airport could handle 15 million passengers until 2030 and even accommodate the super jumbo Airbus A380 after the first phase of construction. The proposed airport apron will have 15 stands for international carriers, four stands for domestic airlines and two for cargo flights.

The first passenger terminal will have an area of 75,500 sq m, six boarding gates, 34 check-in counters, six security inspection counters, 35 immigration counters, eight customs inspection counters and six baggage claim counters. By the end of the third phase of construction, the airport will have a parallel runway, enabling it to handle 60 million passengers annually.

source:The Kathmandu Post,22 Jan 2013