The runway extension project of the country’s only international airport delays as the contractor company has not initiated work. The plan of extending 300 meters of runway at the southern end of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) was initiated with an agreement with China Shanxi Construction and Engineering Company that comes under package NCB-01. The project comes under TIA Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project (ATCEP) which is to be completed within 21 months.
Previously in 2016, the contract was awarded to Sanjose however, the company couldn’t initiate the project and was terminated in December, 2016. San Jose had completed only 18 % of work so CAAN terminated the contract and provided new contract to other company.
The respective authority from TIA has already forwarded a warning letter to the company and will again issue another letter on March 15, if the company doesn’t respond accordingly. If the company fails to initiate the work after the issue of second warning letter, it could lead to the termination.
Besides, NCB-02 which is related to expansion of Terminal Building contract has been given to Nepali Company ‘Sharma Prera Ashishal’ at the cost of 87.8 crore rupee. As per CAAN’s spokesperson Birendra Prasad Shrestha, both companies have started working and are given 18 months of time period to complete the work.
Likewise, NCB-03 is about the Generator installation along with light installation contract that has been given to Nepali company ‘Ashish and Prera Joint Venture’ at 21 crore and 72 lakh rupees.
Under the ATCEP, TIA will be seeing some improvements such as reconfiguration and upgrading of airfield infrastructures, construction of parallel and link taxiways, new international apron, 300 meters of runway extension, construction of runway end safety area and an uninterrupted power supply system for essential airfield and security area lights. Moreover, the international terminal building will also be expanded and reconfigured with improvement in utility facilities.
