Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has finally selected eligible construction companies for Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project (ATCEP). At present, the companies for TIA runway extension and international terminal building expansion have been finalized.
Under tender Notice NCB-01, CAAN received bids from four companies namely China Railway, Kalika Tundi Joint Venture, Shanxi Construction Engineering and Stratag International. Among these companies, Shanxi Construction Engineering became successful in taking over the project. This engineering company will be working for TIA Runway Extension project with an estimated budget of US$5.8 million.
Likewise under tender notice NCB-02, Contech Lumbini Joint Venture, Sharma Prera and Ashish Joint Venture applied for the project. Among these companies, Sharma Prera has been awarded the tender of the project. The company will be working for TIA International Terminal Building expansion project with an estimated budget of US$7.7 million.
Tender notice NCB-03 received bids from some companies whose evaluation is going on. As per the information from CAAN, the LOI (Letter of Intent) has been dispatched to the bidder companies. The selected company under NCB-03 will be working for TIA Utility Enhancement Project with an estimated budget of US$1.8 million.
The earthworks on Guheswori area will also be initiated as CAAN is preparing necessary documents for International Competitive Bidding (ICB).
The selected construction companies will initiate their work soon as they have been provided a minimum of one month for the necessary preparations.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided Loan and Grant to the Government of Nepal for the Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project which is specially planned to improve standard of TIA.
Under the ATCEP, TIA will be seeing some improvements with the Enhancement Project such as reconfiguration and upgrading of airfield infrastructures, construction of parallel and link taxiways, new international apron, 300 meters of runway extension, construction of runway end safety area and an uninterrupted power supply system for essential airfield and security area lights. Moreover, the international terminal building will also be expanded and reconfigured with improvement in utility facilities.
The country’s sole international airport is desperately in need of enhancement of its capacity due to the fact that the air traffic and congestion at Kathmandu airspace is rocketing these days. Private airline companies are expanding their fleet capacity hence, narrowing the parking space. Some other international airports on different parts of the country are under construction however, it will take more than five years to complete. To handle the pressure, ATCEP is mandatory for TIA.
