Barriers on the way of improvement of Bharatpur Airport
December 15, 2016 – Kathmandu
Hub of domestic travelers in the mid-southern part of Nepal, the Bharatpur airport seems to be in a troubling state as the improvement of the airport does not seem to be feasible due to various reasons. A proposal of 400 meters runway extension forwarded before a couple of years ago in order to eradicate the problem on landing due to heavy fog in the airport premises during winter towards North has not been forwarded by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Aviation. As the construction of houses against the regulation rapids, the extension of runway now seems to be an impossible project.
The runway extension was proposed to be done utilizing the “horse farm” that lies towards the northern part of Airport. Since Nepal Government has already spent billions for the establishment and development of the farm, the runway extension project seems to be under shadow as the farm needed to be replaced in order to complete this project.
On the other hand the tall apartment buildings of ‘Unique Colony’ near the airport are imposing a major threat to all the aircraft approaching and taking off from this airport. A total of 257 houses near the airport premises are reported to have been built against the house building regulation of Nepal Government. Those houses are imposing the threat as well as a barrier for extension of the runway. The authorized authorities have not initiated any legal attempt against those builders.
The Gvernment of Nepal had allocated a total of 150 Bighas of land for the construction of Bharatpur Airport in 2015 BS. Regular flight was commenced after the completion of the construction of airport in 2021 BS. The airport operation was closed from 2038 BS to 2042 BS due to the political instability of the country.
Presently, the Jetstream 41 aircraft of Yeti airlines and ATR 42 series aircraft of Buddha Air are having regular scheduled flights in Bharatpur airport. A local transportation way was also present inside the airport premise that was removed after the renovation of Airport in 2055 BS. But from that day no any other major improvement plans for the airport has been commenced or accomplished. And now the buildings on either sides of the airport are the main barrier in the way of betterment of the airport.
If immediately the authorized will not take in charge of those houses, Bharatpur Airport would never see a better day in future. The locals of the airport vicinity seem to be interested in helping the betterment of airport. As per the reports they have said that in case of proper reasoning they will be ready to do as the authorities instruct them to do. This is because the people of Bharatpur have looked this airport as a backbone of development and they want the betterment of it. They have desired for the conduction of flights to other region of the district and to conduct night flying in the airport.
