Delayed construction work pushes TIA’s renovation
March 10, 2017-Kathmandu
The completion tenure for Tribhuvan International Airport’s renovation has been pushed to 2019 due to delayed construction works.
After the termination of Constructora Sanjose, the Spanish contractor owner of TIA renovation work, on December the ninety-two million airport improvement work has been left held.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has recalled for the bids on 6 March to complete the pending improvement works of TIA. The aviation authorities have divided the remaining project into three further sections i.e. extension of the runway, expansion of the international terminal building and utility works. Plans are also being made for further issuing tender calls by the end of April to complete soil filling and drainage works of the airport.
A source reported that twenty-one months duration will be allocated to complete the extension work of the runway. The work includes the extension of the runway to 300 meters at southern end along with construction of drainage system, perimeter and access roads.
Remaining two section of the contract includes expansion of the international terminal building, construction of sewage treatment system and installation of power supply system and will be allocated with 18 and 12 months tenure for the completion respectively, added source.
“We have estimated that the project will be finished by the end of 2019”, said source and added “However, the completion of the project will depend on contractors working performance. Appointment of the genuine contractor will definitely complete the project by early 2019.”
CAAN has reported that the process of appointing the new contractor for the resumed delayed up-gradation work will be completed by June.
Soil filling works have been the main component of the project due to non-allocation of a proper quarry site and roadways for transportation.
The project earlier was only able to supply 600,000 cubic meters of soil out of 2 million cubic meters needed for the expansion works. The project thus plans to call for separate bids for the soil filling works.
The multi-million expansion project was jointly funded by the Nepal Government and the Asian Development Bank with the contribution of USD 12 million and USD 80 million respectively. The project was implemented on 6 December 2010 and was scheduled to be completed by March 2015.
The project was troubled from the start due to the lack of soil needed for expanding the runway. Works were also held for days after the crash of Turkish Airlines jet in TIA’s runway in March 2015.
Further, earthquake of April 2015 and economic blockade had also delayed the construction process. The deadline for the project completion was then extended to 2016 after the quake and blockade. But analyzing the slow workings of contractor the project completion tenure was later extended to 2018 subsequently.
The Spanish Contractor was allocated with two deadline extension along with notice to improve for a number of times but analyzing zero improvements made by the company, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had issued the termination notice to ConstructoraSanjose to quit the construction work in December last year.
Board from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal then after had recommended the agreement with Sanjose to be canceled as the project had only achieved 17 percent of physical progress. The disturbed extension project of TIA has issued the longest durational contract for the project completion.
Tribhuvan International Airport will handle around six million passengers annually after the completion of the extension project and will also accommodate bigger jets.
