The construction work of Nijgadh International Airport, a national pride project has been a controversial topic since long time. The construction work is still in tough route to gain complete easy phase. However, the authority is working hard and dedicated to clear the spiky way.
Local people from Tangiya and Katghau residential area should be transferred for construction of Nijgadh International Airport. The process for searching appropriate land for transferring local has been started.
Om Narayan Sharma, the project head stated that the survey is being conducted for studying the necessary lands for transfer of residential area. “The residential area will be shifted to a place where there are no forests and we have started discussing with local people for land acquisition, he added.
There are around 1476 houses at Tangiya area. According to the plan, the runway will be constructed in Tangiya area. Chief Sharma said that the agreement for cutting down the tress has been done with Nepalese Army.
Previously, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) sent a letter to Ministry of Forest for approval regarding the cutting down of trees. Sharma claimed that the construction work will be completed by concerning the importance of environment and cutting down the least number of trees as far as possible.
The meeting between Finance Ministry and Tourism Ministry held on August 29, 2018, has already decided to construct Nijgadh Airport in Government-Private partners’ model. It is estimated to cost around Rs 100 billion for the construction of the airport.
The airport will be developed in three phases. The first phase, as per the detailed feasibility study (DFS) of the project, will be of 10 years; the second phase will be of 5 years, and the third or final phase will be of 25 years.
The project envisions building a modern airport in Nijgadh in Bara district, 175 km from Kathmandu in the southern plains.
In the first phase, two years will be spent for site clearance works, and then another five years will be spent on constructing the airport that will have 3,600-meter-long and 60-meter-width runway. According to the DFS of the Landmark Worldwide Company (LMW) of South Korea, after the first phase of the construction is complete, the airport will be able to handle 15 million passengers annually and accommodate the Airbus A380 super jumbo.
By the end of the third phase, the airport will have a parallel runway enabling it to handle 60 million passengers annually. If built, the Nijgadh International Airport will be an air hub joining 27 Asian cities and generate over 100,000 jobs, according to LMW report.
