-KATHMANDU
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has formed a ‘think-tank’ comprising civil aviation experts which will be responsible to propose the measures related to improvement in domestic civil aviation industry to the government.
According to the press statement issued by the Ministry on April 10, it states that the ‘think-tank’ will identify prevailing challenges in Nepal’s aviation sector and suggest improvement measures directly to the government.
Led by MoCTCA Minister, Rabindra Adhikari, the 20-member think-tank comprises of former aviation secretaries, civil engineers and officials from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Ghanashyam Upadhyaya, Spokesperson for MoCTA Spokesperson said that the think-tank was formed with an objective to utilize the expertise of different people in the civil aviation industry to improve the entire aviation sector. “The government will seek suggestions from members of the think-tank while taking decisions related to civil aviation and when formulating new policies or initiating reforms in the sector,” said Upadhyaya.
The think-tank comprises of Lalit Bikram Shah, former regional director of ICAO; former secretaries Birendra Bahadur Deuja, Nagendra Prasad Ghimire and Yagya Prasad Gautam; aviation experts Hari Bhakta Shrestha, Trichandra Manandhar, Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, Kamal Prasad Rimal; Captain PJ Shah; civil engineer Kamal Kumar KC; experts Mahendra Singh Rawal, Uday Shrestha, Yubaraj Kumar Bhattarai, Narayan Bahadur Singh Dangol, Libindra Man Shakya, Suman Kumar Shrestha, Mahendra Raj Bhandari, Prabhakar Adhikari, Prabha Baidya and Hemanta Aryal.
The think-tank is also expected to facilitate MoCTCA while implementing the improvement targets in the civil aviation industry set by the 100-day action plan, which was recently unveiled by MoCTCA.
The 100-day action plan envisions operating Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) for at least 21 hours a day, address air traffic congestion at TIA, procure high-tech rescue equipment to better manage air accidents, enhance capacity of air traffic control unit at TIA and make TIA’s slot management works more scientific.
The government will soon form a similar think-tank targeting improvement and promotion of culture and tourism sector, added Upadhyaya.
