Renovation work of Jomsom airport has been completed. The runway blacktopping project and airport renovation work has finally completed.
The renovation work was started late October last has finally been completed after the work was disrupted couple of times.
The 815 meter runway has been fully blacktopped by overlapping old one nearly after almost 18 years.
Simultaneously, the fences have been changed around the airport along with construction of wall so as to minimize the impact of Kali Gandaki River.
CAAN had allocated around NRs. 9 Crore for renovation of Jomsom Airport and the renovation project was awarded to ‘Apex Construction’. The work has been completed prior to expected deadline.
The runway renovation project was started as the old runway had met deadline. According to the rules, the runway of airport should be renovated during a period of every 5 to 7 years, however the runway has been renovated only after 18 years.
The airport had 3-centimeter thick pitched runway and now after renovation, black bituminous materials have been added to an additional four centimeters.
The renovation project started before winter last year and was halted in between due to adverse weather condition. The airport came into operating in between and the airport was closed for last 15 days so as to continue the renovation work.
Along with the runway project, the airport enhancement also included fencing around the airport, works of taxiway renovation, fencing and sewage works and as per project official all the work has been completed. The contractor company had used around half a dozen equipment and around 2 dozen workers for the project.
Jomsom Airport had been facing problems in operation due to the damaged old runway and some incident has occurred previously.
Daily flights of 20 minutes to and from Pokhara are conducted as planes fly through Kali Gandaki gorge.
Now, after maintenance of the runway, the landing of aircraft is set to be eased and resulting very less incidents.
Jomsom Airport is a STOL airport located on the bank of the Kali Gandaki River serving Jomsom, a town in the Mustang District of Province No. 4 in Nepal, and the Mustang District. It serves as the gateway to the Mustang District that includes Jomsom, Kagbeni, Tangbe, and Lo Manthang, and to Muktinath temple, which is a popular pilgrimage for Nepalese and Indians.
