Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to start providing budget for the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa after 9 months of halt. ADB stopped financial support in the construction project of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) following the unsatisfactory progress.
However, ADB has now sent the letter to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) with commitment to disburse the money saying the work was satisfactory at the last time.
ADB was the main aider for the construction of the airport but had stopped providing loan and grant from January this year as the work was not completed in given time-frame. Om Sharma, chief of the Gautam Buddha International Airport project said, “ADB’s letter has arrived only on Wednesday.” He also said that ADB has already disbursed Rs. 1.50 billion.
ADB previoulsy warned Nepal Government to remove contractor saying Chinese Construction Company Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction work was not satisfactory. ADB stopped financial support after the firm’s company stopped working on various excuses. The construction was due to complete by the end of 2017 however it couldn’t complete due to Madhes movement, blockade, earthquake etc. and the construction company had requested to extend the deadline.
“Now the physical construction progress of the airport has reached 50 percent,” Sharma said adding that the pace of the work has expedited with the aim of completion by 2019.
China’s North West Civil Aviation had signed a contract to complete the construction airport of Gautam Buddha International Airport with 6 billion 22 million 51 lakhs 20 thousand rupees from global tender.
