Chinese company which has been working on construction of Pokhara International Airport complained about the unnecessary tackles they had to face in purchasing of explosive device for destroying a huge rock found under the construction site.
Contractor company complained that, though the process for buying explosive device was started 6 months ago is not complete yet.
The company official expressed the problem on the meeting with the monitoring team of Former Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal.
Jerry Yang, Project Manager of CAMC Company had clearly explained about the progress of construction work of airport to team of Parliamentary committee on Thursday (November 1, 2018).
Krishna Chapagai, Public relation officer of CAMC stated that the while the construction work is progressive, the preparation for construction of the runway should be initiated. An explosive device is this compulsorily required to destroy large rocks found on the spot of the proposed runway.
East side of Seti River has hard rocks like stored cement and the soil eroded in the riverside are extra hard causing difficulty in the construction.
Chapagai informed that the process should be complete by including Indian Embassy to buy explosive materials from India. “If we get the approval from Indian Embassy then we will open LC for purchase.” he said. He also said that they had to depend on India as Nepal had not purchased imported any explosive material from China.
It is waste of time to use drilling machine for breaking rocks hard and big whereas the explosives can do the job pretty well in less time because of which explosives are needed.
According to Chapagai, 17 per cent of the project has aslredy been completed and the foundation of terminal building is also ready. Project Manager Yang informed about the delay in design approval though the design was made according to the suggestion of Design Consultant Company . Yang claimed that the construction work will be completed before deadline if the explosive materials purchases, design approval including government processes will be quicker.
The government had given contract of construction project to the Chinese company CAMC Engineering on 12 of May, 2014. As per the agreement, the CAMCE has taken the contract to construct the airport in the EPC model and the company has to pay compensation if the work is not completed during the specified time.
The construction project of the international airport was started with loan assistance of 22 billion from Exim Bank of China and is projected to complete within 10th July 2021. The project will also receive some grant from Chinese side.
Construction of Pokhara International Airport (at Chinnedanda-3 km to the east of Pokhara’s present domestic airport) was inaugurated with placing foundation stone by then Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on April 13, 2016.
The airport is being constructed in 3700 ropani land of Sabhik Chinadhanda. After the completion of the construction of Pokhara Airport, Boeing 757 and Airbus 320 or relevant type of aircraft can operate under the standard guidelines of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) .
