Out of 7 companies that had bade for second phase project of Gautam Buddha International Airport which comprises of installation of various equipment, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has elected Thai firm ‘Aeronautical Radio of Thailand’.
CAAN issued Letter of Intent (Letter of Understanding) on February 4th stating the selection of the firm for the project. The project includes supply, delivery, installation and Commissioning of CNS (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems for the under construction airport.
Out of 7 companies, 3 companies from Spain, MSI-aeronav and Thai firm quoted the least amount of price for development which was published on September among them Thai firm had bid the lowest amount which is 4,770,300 USD excluding Custom and VAT which was evaluated as per Clause No.27 (1&2) of PPA 2063.
The 7 firms that had applied for the project last November and the financial bids were opened couple of weeks back.
The project duration will be of 9 months from the day of contract awarded and the project is expected to commenced from this month. The project will be divided into 4 phases that will include installation, testing, authorizing and flight calibration of navigation and communication systems.
The runway of the airport will be 3,000 meters long which is expected to come into operation by March of 2019. The construction work of terminal buildings, water tanks, and control towers, among other infrastructures, are also underway of construction.
The airport 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.
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 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 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.
