The flight takes off from Kathmandu.

Spokesman Raj Chhetri of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) stated that Sri Lankan Airlines were permitted to operate the Kathmandu-Sri Lanka air route twice a week.

He added that Sri Lankan Airlines had sought the aviation permit for this summer season. However, the permit’s termination date is September 4. “The company would also apply for further flight permission by observing the situation,” he said.

The airliner expressed interest in taking off from Gautam Buddha International Airport at Bhairahawa. However, the airport is under construction.

Jenith Travels is the travel agency of Sri Lankan Airlines in Nepal. It stated that the air route was inaugurated as a considerable amount of Nepalis visit Sri Lanka. Tourism also stands to get boosted for Nepal after the pandemic ebbs away.

Sri Lanka is currently operating jets in the Middle East and the Maldives. It is planning on expanding to Japan, Australia, and London, Jenith said.

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The airport has been built at Bhairahawa, a location close to Lord Buddha’s birthplace, Lumbini.

Souring this good news is the pandemic complication. The national aviation body, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, had earlier planned to make this airport operation at the beginning of 2021.

Due to the COVID-19 chaos, the officials are yet to schedule the test flights.

“We are focusing on conducting such flights by September or October,” Praveen Neupane, a senior official of the project, says, “That will be the completion of the construction work.”

Praveen reiterated that the airport would become operational. However, it will take a couple of months to initiate commercial flights as the government has to define an air travel route. This proposed route will need the approval of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The airport, which was built by Chinese and Thai construction companies, is listed as a national pride project.

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According to the GBIA Project Chief Prabesh Adhikari, the construction work was resumed following the availability of the river-based construction materials with the support of the Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City.

The Metropolitan City is providing sand, pebbles and other river-based construction materials from the Tinau River.

In response, the project has resumed the construction of roads in the 10km periphery of the airport and concreting works in between terminal building and apron.

“However, the project still need 50,000 cubic meter river-based raw materials. We are also consulting with other local levels to provide such raw materials,” he added.

ALSO READ: COVID-19 Outbreak Threatens Nepal’s Construction Projects

Earlier, the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered the procurement of construction materials, leading to a halt of the GBIA project. Since then, the project is working on equipment installations.

So far, 90% of the construction works were completed. However, the project has already crossed the completion deadline of March 31, issued by the Nepali Government.

The obstruction in the supply of equipment from China due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to the delay in the completion of the airport.

The Nepal Government has yet to procure the lighting fixtures for runway and conveyor belts for baggage handling system from China.

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The Pokhara Regional International Airport was originally scheduled to commence in July 2021.

However, the project might be delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

The USD 240 million project is being constructed by China CAMC Engineering and it has so far completed 55% of the total work.

However, the project is expected to get delayed due to the labor shortage.

Most of the 164 Chinese workers returned to China for the Lunar New Year holidays in January and they were supposed to return to work by February 1, 2020.

The workers are now undergoing quarantine in Sichuan, China and will be allowed to depart for Nepal only if they show no symptoms.

Moreover, the workers arriving from China will be again isolated at the project site for 14 days before allowing them to work.

The Pokhara Regional International Airport is panned to have 2,500m long, 45m wide runway and is being built with an aim to handle around 1 million passengers a year and 600 per hour.

Other Impacted Projects

Apart from Pokhara Airport, China-involved Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) is also being delayed as the technical workers haven’t returned from China.

The GBIA is being constructed by China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group that features 250 skilled Chinese workers.

Likewise, Melamchi Water Supply Project and 756MW Tamor Storage Hydroelectric Project are affected by the coronavirus epidemic.

So far, China has reported 78,832 cases and 2,788 deaths from coronavirus.

At least 30 other countries have reported coronavirus infection cases. There are 70 death cases and around 4,547 confirmed cases outside China.

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The airport is planned to have 3,000m long runway and 16 international parking bays, and is being built with an aim to accommodate Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 series flights.

“The airport will facilitate delegates of the conference. We strongly believe that people coming for study and research will do better promotion of Nepal,” Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai said during a press conference.

According to the government, the deadline for the completion of construction works of GBIA is March 31, 2020.

The Buddhist Conference will be organized on May 5-7, 2020 in Lumbini.

The Nepali Government has invited delegates from various countries for the upcoming international conference.

The delegates include:

• Gotabaya Rajapaksa – President of Sri Lanka
• Prayut Chan-o-cha – Prime Minister of Thailand
• Daw Suu Kyi – State Councilor of Myanmar
• Ban Ki-moon – Former Secretary General of the United Nations

Tourism Ministers from India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, South Korea, Bhutan, Mongolia, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, the US, the UK, Russia, Costa Rica, France and Germany will also take part in the conference.

The organizing committee has decided to celebrate the conference for a week by organizing various programs.

The conference will feature following programs:

• Cleaning of Lumbini, Bhairahawa, Kapilvbastu and Ramgram
• Blood donation
• Tree plantation
• Marathon

The Nepali Government has been organizing the International Buddhist Conference every two years since 2016.

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Informing media at the press meet, Bhattarai said that drafts for new acts will be prepared soon. He also told media that he is ready to complete all the listed tasks within the given time and efficiently, as he has a strong team to rely on.

“In order to bring about changes in the tourism, culture and civil aviation sector, we have to usher in changes to our legal provisions and policies. In this one year, cultural, tourism and civil aviation acts will be amended and we will draft new provisions if needed.” he said.

Revealing his plans for Nepal’s Civil Aviation sector, the Minister said that domestic passengers above 70 years will receive a discount of 50 percent on their airfare. The Tourism Ministry will hold talks with related stakeholders to implement this policy, said Bhattarai.

Minister Bhattarai also said that the Ministry will form new legal provisions and improve old policies in line with the European Union air safety standards to remove Nepal from the air safety blacklist.

Among other plans for Nepal’s Tourism Sector, the Tourism Minister will introduce the following:

• Conduct a feasibility study for setting up a flying school of international standards to produce skilled manpower
• Provide incentive packages to airline companies operating flights to Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA)
• Commencement of site clearance for Nijgadh International Airport (NIA) by the end of this year
• Issue Expression of Interest (EoI) to develop inactive airports as air sports activity centers
• Provide incentives to airline companies that operate flights to and from Tribhuvan International Airport after midnight, since the airport is capable of operating for 24 hours

“Moreover, new VIP movement criteria will be introduced at TIA to address the congestion and traffic jams during VIP movements,” Bhattarai added.

Plans for Visit Nepal Year 2020

With the aim to make the Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 successful, the Tourism Ministry is planning the following:

• Organizing the Global Tourism Ministers’ Conclave in collaboration with United Nations World Tourism Organization under the theme New Year in Nepal
• Promote the VNY logo on boarding passes, baggage stickers and visa stamps for domestic and international flights
• Launching the One Nepali Send One Foreign Friend campaign in association with the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) and VNY Secretariat
• Organizing the Tourism Investment Summit for completing the work of Tourism Satellite Account, providing tourism-sector related skill-based training and installing the GPS tracking system for securing the mountaineering sector and making it more reliable.

Through the Global Tourism Minister’s Conclave, the Nepal Tourism Ministry plans to inaugurate VNY 2020 in the presence of various countries tourism ministers.

With so many promising initiatives in line, the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign is likely to achieve its target of 2 million tourists.

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“As of now, the project has achieved 35 percent physical progress. We expect half of the tasks, or 50 percent physical progress, to be achieved by June-end,” said Sanjiv Gautam, Director General, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

Also known as Gautam Buddha Airport, this national pride project has missed several deadlines in the past and has been delayed for long due to various reasons.

With regard to this project, CAAN has allotted Rs 6.22 billion worth contract to a China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group to upgrade the airport in November 2013, and was expected to be ready by December 2017.

However, infrastructure delays dragged the project upgradation activity by more than six months and eventually, the deadline was revised to June 2018.

After all these, the project financer Asian Development Bank (ADB) has finally set June 2019 as the last deadline for the completion of this prestigious project.

We have not received an official confirmation, but based on the project’s progress, it looks like the ADB is also satisfied. An ADB team made a site inspection in Bhairahawa this week to review the project’s progress. The ADB is yet to submit a report,” informed Gautam.

Commenting on the project’s progress, Nepali Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari said, “The construction work is moving at a faster pace. Work has been moving ahead with the target of completing the project by 2019.”

According to the minister, the project was almost 10 percent complete as of 2017 and has achieved 31 percent completion by January 2018.

The new airport, upon completion, is expected to give the needed boost to the industrial activity in Bhairahawa and also facilitate international pilgrimage tourism to Lumbini, the world’s renowned tourist place 22km away from the Bhairahawa Airport.

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