The under construction Gautam Buddha International Airport is set to be facilitated with meteorological information system as the government is preparing to install the system.
The system will be installed at the airport with the estimated cost of over Rs4 million. Some of the required equipment for the installation have been arrived.
Meteorological Forecasting Division under Department of Hydrology and Meteorology is preparing to facilitate the airport with the meteorological information system for which necessary preparation is going on.
GBIA project is expected to complete within a year and will commence its operation soon so, the meteorological information system is prepared to be installed for safe and reliable flight operations.
The majority of airfields around the country are situated at complex geographical locations featuring unpredictable and vibrant weather phenomena. Most of the air crashes and incidents happen as the result of adverse weather conditions. So, weather information system will be installed to reduce air incidents.
At present, only Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) features such system and to extend the system at GBIA, almost 20 manpower are required. The respective authority has also started preparation for recruiting effective manpower.
GBIA, a national pride project has attained over 50 per cent physical progress and the test flight is expected to be conducted on 27th of September, 2019. Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Authority (MoCTCA) has already sent a correspondence letter to the concerned authority to operate GBIA within next year. Ministry has also informed other correlated bodies who directly or indirectly involve in the airport operations.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has already decided to start providing budget for the construction of GBIA in Bhairahawa after 9 months of halt. ADB stopped financial support in the construction project of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) following the unsatisfactory progress however, it has now shown commitment to disburse the money saying the work was satisfactory at the last time.
