The two different decisions made by Butwal Sub-Municipality may hamper the ongoing Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) project.
The sub-municipality has restricted the construction company to fetch construction materials like river sand, stones and others. This decision is expected to delay the construction of the national pride project. Swasam Construction Company is the supplier of the construction material for the project that received approval from the sub-municipality on Chaitra, 2075.
The company also paid the required tax to the government. The agreement was made when the Chief Operating Officer was Rajendra Sigdel. However, the new officer Chakramani Sharma has restricted the construction company to supply the construction materials.
As per the sub-municipality, the construction company has been restricted as they couldn’t pay the additional tax which was issued from 1st Baisakh, 2076.
The project committee says that the complication has arisen with the sub-municipality’s decision. The committee also warned that the project would be delayed with the shortage of the construction materials. The project if delayed now will extend further as rainy weather is approaching, added officials from the committee.
Chakramani Sharma informed that the company must pay tax in accordance to the latest market price. The supply can be continued after the new agreement, he added. Swasam construction on the other hand reports that the municipality has just brought unacceptable conflict and should not obstruct the national pride project.
The project was awarded to China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group in November 2013 for NRs. 6.22 Billion and was expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
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 will be 3,000 meters long and 45 meter wide and is set to have CAT I standard Instrument Landing System (ILS).
