Construction of Gautam Budhha International Airport project, Bhairahawa will expedite further as The Chinese contractor North West Civil Avenue has planned to increase the number of workers and have already started the process for importing essential machines.
Currently there are around 200 Nepalese laborers working on the project. The company has planned to bring another 250 Chinese skilled workers as the current workers are insufficient. The company has already adopted the process of labor approval as per the information from project officials.
The company has changed the management team after receiving the warning of breaking the contract as the work was halted by the company. Earlier, the management did not pay attention to work but now the team has been living at the project every time.
Previously, the work of the project was not able to go ahead because only 60 workers were employed. Due to which the required project couldn’t complete in the time frame which was till the end of the year 2017. According to new time frame, by the end of 2018, North West should complete 80 percent of work.
The Chinese company is working itself on the project while Nepali contractors have got the responsibility of small projects only. There are currently 10 Chinese workers which is aimed to be increased to 200 people. The number of machines and essential equipment will also be increased.
Initially, Chinese contractor North West Civil Avenue gave responsibility to Nepali company Nepal Infra Pvt. Ltd and the Airport was supposed to be completed by 2017 but due to numerous reasons like dispute among both companies for monitory transaction, dispute of contractor and co-workers etc. the project was delayed.
The project authority sent ‘notice to correct’ after the work of two foreign companies halted. After sending this, the construction company had replaced the administrative team. Earlier contractors used to stay in Kathmandu for doing more business than in the construction of the airport.
The Chinese company has now brought to some Machinery from Kerung border and has also got permission to add other machines. The Chinese company had to make physical progress monthly by 6 percent but due to the dispute with Nepalese company, only 0.5 percent work progress was calculated. Sharma has said that it has become intense at work and has started to expedite the project. He also added that only 32% of the work has been completed till date and the aim to complete 80% of the work within June 2018 seems to be hard.
The contractor has started to discuss about the materials like loose rocks and soils required for construction of the Airport with the locals. It was their main problem initially to bring such materials.
The project was given to Chinese company to complete it in 6 billion rupees (6.22arab). The project was started with Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan assistance.
