National pride project, Pokhara International Airport has achieved around 27% of the construction work. The airport achieved the work of 500 million in around 15 months since the construction started.
The construction contract of the airport has been undertaken by Chinese Company CAMC Engineering to complete the work within 2021 July 10. The constructor company has aimed to complete the work of airfield that includes work of runway, taxiway, parking bay etc. within current fiscal year (by June 2019).
The 3rd phase airport runway construction work is also going on and more than 20% of work has been accomplished along with construction of Terminal building and Apron going on. For the construction of the drainage, hanger etc. also the work is going on with 80% of work being carried out.
Project head Binesh Munakarmi stated that they have been able to achieve around 2 to 3% of work in the interval of each month.
The airport is being constructed as category 4D standard set by the ICAO, IATA and FAA. A 2.5km-long and 45m-wide runway with a 330m runway strip is planned to be built at the proposed Pokhara airport to support take-off and landing operations of big commercial aircraft such as Airbus A320, Boeing 737-700 series, and Boeing 757-200 with passenger capacity of 192.
A 1.2km x 23m parallel taxiway will be built from the runway central line on the north side. The parking bay of the airport will accommodate 3 Airbus 320 or Boeing 737/757 and 4 ATR 72 and 4 Twin Otter aircraft. The work of Runway and Taxiway is expected to be completed by April/May this year and the work has been carried out simultaneously.
The project include the construction of 10,000m² international terminal building, domestic terminal building with a floor area of 4,000m², and a 3,500m² customs and cargo building along with 2,500m² air traffic control tower and operation building, two security buildings, a 6,000m² domestic and international hangar, a 200m² administration building, car parking areas, an air navigation unit, a fuel storage facility, water supply facilities, and other utilities.
The air-side infrastructure works will also include construction of two 182.5m-long and 23m-wide exit taxiways, access roads and aerodrome pavement.
The proposed airport will be built over 200 hectares of land acquired by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in 1974.
In May 2014, China CAMC Engineering secured an engineering, procurement and construction contract from CAAN to build the airport. In March 2016, EXIM Bank of China executed a loan agreement with the Nepalese Ministry of Finance to provide $215.96m in funding to support the new airport.
The project is being implemented by the government-owned CAAN and expected to create large number of jobs during the construction and operation phases.
The airport site is located at Chhinne Danda, 800m above mean sea level in the city of Pokhara. It is situated 3km east of Pokhara’s existing domestic airport which is well connected to the Prithvi Highway (Kathmandu-Pokhara).
The airport is being constructed with intention to provide regional, domestic and international passengers with additional flight services over the current airport to encourage tourism in the Pokhara region, which is one of the popular tourist destinations in Nepal.
