Co-Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) inspected the under construction Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) on November 3, 2018 yesterday.
During the inspection, Dahal stated that the construction work was satisfactory and declared to reward to the construction entrepreneurs and project chiefs if national pride projects and mega projects are completed within timeframe.
NCP (NCP) General Secretary Bishnu Poudel, Minister for Agriculture Chandra Prakash Khanal, former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, former minister Chabi Lal Bishwakarma, former Speaker of the House Onsari Gharti and provincial ministers were present during inspection along with leader Dahal.
Leader Dahal said that GBIA has caught everyone’s interest as it is being constructed in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
Pradip Adhikari, Project Officer informed that a national pride project has attained above 55 per cent of physical progress.
Prabesh Adhikari, chief officer of the project stated that the blacktopping work will take at least 4-6 months for completion whereas the entire structure of arrival building is completed and the major structure of departure building has been finished. He said 55 percent work was completed from the view of the construction of the structure.
Runway blacktopping project of Gautam Buddha International Airport began on October 30, 2018. The Chinese Construction Company Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction has changed the management and carried out work in full swing. Nepalese workers are constructing the international terminal buildings, runway, administrative buildings, and firefighting buildings. The Chinese technical team has been operating roller, other equipment & machines. As many as 15 Chinese and 200 Nepalese workers have been used for the construction of the airport.
The construction work of various parties related to the technical interrelation should be completed to conduct international flights. Even if it is not completed, the schedule flight will be commenced from June 28, 2019 according to the plan.
According to project officials, 750 metric tons of asphalt have been imported from outside Nepal for blacktopping work and the team of workers and technicians from China have collectively commenced the work.
The runway of the airport will be 3,000 meters long. The Construction work of terminal buildings, water tanks, and control towers, among other infrastructures, are also underway of construction.
The project was awarded to China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group in November 2013 for Rs. 6.22 Billions and was expected to be completed by end of 2017. But due to shortage of fuel and building materials and due to the months-long Terai closure in 2015 the work was delayed by six months. Also the dispute between the Chinese contractor and the Nepali sub-contractor, Northwest Infra Nepal caused its operation deadline to be revised to June 2018 and now to 2019.
