Budget of around NRs. 4 billion has been reallocated for the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa.
The budget was allocated after the previously separated budget in current fiscal year for the project had finished. The project managed to finish the budget within 6 months of this fiscal year.
Finance ministry had allocated around 5 billion rupees for land acquisition around the airport and the project has made expense of all the budget. The ministry stated that around 4 billion was reallocated for the compensation distribution.
GBIA project had asked for 8 billion rupees with Finance ministry for the land acquisition and compensation process after the previous amount was finished.
The airport project had estimated around 23 billion requirement for and till now around 14 billion rupees has already been circulated. The project official stated that they have aimed to operate the airport within this year by completing the construction work by June 28, 2019 thus to complete the work of compensation, they have asked for the budget.
The first stage of the airport has already been completed and now the remaining infrastructures like terminal building, cargo etc. are being built in the airport and the land acquisition was done for construction of such infrastructure.
Lately, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has elected Thai firm ‘Aeronautical Radio of Thailand’ for second phase project of GBIA which comprises of installation of various equipment.
The construction was due to be completed 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 till 2019.
The project was hindered by dispute over payment between Chinese contractor and Nepali sub-contractor that made delay in construction work along with other obstacles.
The runway of the airport will be 3,000 meters long is set to have CAT I standard Instrument Landing System (ILS).
Nepal Oil Corporation is also set to establish aviation fuel depot at the airport which will have capacity to reserve fuel of around two thousand kiloliter.
According to the study conducted by Asian Development Bank, 50 Million passengers will use this airport at first year and 20 lakhs passengers by 2020, 250 millions by 2025 and 600 millions passengers annually by 2027.
The government has been prioritizing on the airport and has been working on its completion in order to aid in ‘Tourism year-2020’ to bring around 2 million tourist in the country.
