The deadline of under construction national pride project airport; Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) is going to be extended.
The construction deadline is nearing to an end as previously; the airport was stated to be constructed by June 2019 however, due work of second phase remaining, the deadline is set to be extended.
The project was awarded to China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group in November 2013 and has sought 6 months of extension for deadline to complete the project.
As per airport project chief, the work of ‘ICB 01’ has nearly completed however, work of ‘ICB 02’ has still not commenced thus the contractor company has requested for extension of the deadline.
ICB 01 phase include infrastructural and construction work while the ICB 02 phase include work of installation of the equipment. The work of ICB 01 is in final phase and the work of ICB 02 will be started immediately after completion of ICB 01, project chief added.
The work of installing runway lights, runway, taxiway and apron marking etc are left under ICB 01 phase.
The project official stated that the work for completion of ICB 02 will take around 6 months and the process to select company to purchase and install various communications, navigation and surveillance system has already begun.
The project is waiting for response from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
With the extension of the deadline, the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
The project was awarded to China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group for NRs. 6.22 Billion and was expected to be completed by end of 2017.
However, it couldn’t complete due to dispute over payment between Chinese contractor and Nepali sub-contractor, Madhes movement, blockade, earthquake etc. and the construction company had requested to extend the deadline.
This will be the third time the deadline will be extended and the project officials are positive that the work will be completed by end of the year as the work has been progressing lately.
The airport will be the country’s second international airport and is expected to minimize the traffic congestion of Tribhuvan international Airport (TIA). The runway of the airport is 3,000 meters long and 45 meter wide and is set to have CAT I standard Instrument Landing System (ILS).
