7,69,000 trees are required to be chopped in the first phase to construct Nijgadh International Airport, the Second International Airport (SIA) and national pride project at Bara.
Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) decided to cut the trees to make space of 2,776 hectares of land in the first phase.
Buddi Sagar Lammichhane, Secretary of Tourism Ministry informed that the letter has been sent to Ministry of Forest and Environment to receive the permit to cut the tress.
According to the project plan, more than 7 lakh trees should be cleared to initiate the construction of runway and terminal building in the first phase.
After receiving the permission from the Ministry Council, it will be convenient to cut down the trees. According to the Ministry, in the first phase, 5 lakh 75 thousand small trees and 1 lakh 94 thousand big trees should be cut down.
According to the environmental test report approved last month, a total of 24 lakhs trees should be cut down for the project. Prior to this, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has given the Nepalese Army the responsibility to cut the trees and construct a peripheral road.
Authorities have stated it would be challenging task to plant more than 6 crores trees on the replacement of almost 24 lakhs trees needed to be chopped down for the construction of proposed Nijgadh International Airport.
The Project Authority said that they have anticipated to plant trees on other districts too as the Bara district where the construction of the airport is going on doesn’t possess enough land to plant trees.
But many people has doubted on its execution. According to the regulation one has to plant 25 new trees if one is cut down but this is not so easy.
The Nepal Army will distribute the stock and transfer it safely and its distribution will be done by the Department of Forest. Though the agreement was signed with Nepal Army to cut trees and construct a periphery road, the army could not initiate their work until the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was approved.
Within two years, the required land will be acquired for the construction of proposed airport. After construction of the model purchased, the construction work will begin after 2 years.
Though the construction project was proposed since long time, there is still confusion on choosing appropriate model and estimation of the actual cost of the project.
