The Gautam Buddha International Airport project is the major construction project in the country that has been pushed into uncertainty by the ongoing crisis.

Even though 90% of the construction works were completed, the much-talked and much-awaited second international airport project in Bhairahawa has been pushed further behind schedule.

Initially, the airport, featuring a 3,000 meter-long and 45 meter-wide runway, was scheduled to be ready by December 2017. However, the completion deadline was pushed several times due to multiple hurdles.

The latest deadline for the project was set for December 2020, which is highly unlikely to reach considering the current situation.

The project’s second package, installation of communication, navigation and surveillance, air traffic management, and meteorological equipment, has been hindered due to the unavailability of technicians due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AEROTHAI), which won the tender for the second package of the airport project, informed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to wait until the pandemic is under control as it is too risky for them to send their technicians to Nepal at the moment.

Also Read: Pokhara – Tourism Capital of Nepal

“The contractor is unlikely to send its workers to install the equipment anytime soon. They have informed the Nepali authority that the technicians to install the equipment could come only after Nepal records zero cases of coronavirus,” said sources at the CAAN.

The CAAN officials said that the airport project might take at least five months to complete, including three months for equipment installation and two months for testing and commissioning, flight calibration of navigation and communication systems.

Source: Nepalindata

They exclaim that the Pokhara International Airport will come into operation before the Gautam Buddha Airport If the technicians fail to come by the end of this year of early January.

The International Airport in Pokhara is set to be completed by July 10, 2021.

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In a latest move, Qatar Government approached Nepal Government pitching for the construction of mega international airport in Nijgadh as a move to strengthen Nepal’s position in Southeast Asia.

As the reports say, the Government of Qatar has put forth the proposal estimated worth USD 1.2 billion for airport construction. According to the Tourism Ministry officials, the two governments are holding talks about this airport project, which has been under discussions since more than two decades.

Although no proposals were signed yet, the two sides are expecting some productive output through the discussions underway.

“The issue has been discussed at the highest levels. We have dispatched necessary documents regarding the current status of the project to the Qatar government through its embassy here,” said an official from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

Another official from the Tourism Ministry said the discussion is in the preliminary stage with no financial modality yet.

“Since the discussion is in its preliminary phase, the financial modality is not clear yet. It could be a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) model or something else. If things go as planned, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli may visit Qatar in April-May to sign the agreement,” adds the official.

However, the official confirmed that the project could go under a government-government deal.

“But one thing is clear: the government may award the project through a government-to-government deal,” reads the official’s statement.

The Background- Different Turns and Finally Making Way!

The construction of Nijgadh International Airport has been in news for years and the first decision in this regard was taken in 1995 as one of the country’s prestigious projects.

However, the project has been postponed due to various reasons such as environmental clearances, delays in bidding, legal and financial issues, among others.

According to the officials, the government is not even interested to award this project to any of the foreign investors.

Malaysian Government had also made a proposal in January 2016 for taking up the project.

“We would like to propose developing the project under the Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (DFBOT) model. The Malaysian Government will form a consortium of financially strong, well experienced and capable companies to develop and manage the Nijgadh airport,” said the Malaysian Government in its statement to Nepal Tourism Ministry.

Even the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had also agreed to build the project, which also failed. Despite several attempts, the project implementation did not go ahead over the years.

Again, after the formation of Oli Government, the project came to limelight again with the Tourism Minister Rabindranath Adhikari calling for the development of the proposed airport as a major transit hub to and from Europe and the United States.

Now, the government is due to submit the Detailed Project Report by the end of the current fiscal year. Will have to see what turn the proposed airport project will take next!

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A recent update informed that the Gautama Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa is nearing its completion to become operational by early 2019.

The much-delayed airport got 50 percent of its physical infrastructure development completed by June 2018 and is awaiting the technical infrastructure part.

The finished 50 percent work covered 70 percent of the civil works and the remaining 30 percent of task involves setting up of Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Communications, Navigation & Surveillance (CNS) systems.

Encouraged at June’s progress report, the #AsianDevelopmentBank (ADB) has decided to step into the project again.

ADB was supporting the project as a key financier, but moved out in December 2017 citing slow execution from the Nepal Government’s side in meeting the set deadlines.

“The project has achieved better-than-expected result in June. ADB has been considering continuing support for the project and we are in regular discussion with them,” says Sanjiv Gautam, Director General, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

According to Gautam, the project is currently awaiting final base laying works including that of the runway that are expected to be completed by end of July 2018.

ADB has so far provided USD 58.50 million in loans & grants followed by OPEC Fund for International Development’s (OFID) USD 15 million loan and CAAN will bear the remaining expenditure as part of counterpart funding.

The project was initially set for a December 2018 deadline after months of delay and has been finally been set to a revised operational deadline of June 2018.

The airport project is aimed at promoting Bhairahawa’s potential as a growing industry hub of Nepal and also to drive more international tourists to Lumbini, Birthplace of Lord Buddha, which is 22 km away from the Gautam Buddha International Airport at Bhairahawa.

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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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As per the preliminary reports, the crash of US-Bangla aircraft Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 resulted in 50 death casualties with around 17 on-board passengers rescued.

“We are trying to bring the fire under control. Details are awaited. The airport has been shut down and all other flights diverted. We’re now concentrating on evacuating the passengers,” informed Birendra Prasad Shrestha, TIA Spokesperson.

According to the TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur, the aircraft lost its track from the runway and moved into a football ground nearby the airport catching the fire.

“All of a sudden, the plane shook violently and there was a loud bang afterwards. I was seated near the window and was able to break out of the window. I have no recollection after I got out of the plane. I have received injuries to my head and legs but I am fortunate that I survived the ordeal,” said Basanta Bohora, one of the survivors of the accident.

With the incident, TIA has been shut down.

TIA is the only international air gateway for the domestic passengers and those travelling to Nepal. As the busiest airport, TIA covered more than 10,000 travellers per day in 2017 alone.

TIA witnessed a record 3.88 million air travelers in 2017 with a double-digit growth and a 10.74 percent rise
year-on-year.

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A similar strategy struck a Nepali pilot Captain Bed Prasad Upreti’s mind, who moved on to create Nepal’s first such aviation museum out of a plane that crash-landed at the country’s only international airport two years back.

Airbus 330, a Turkish Airlines plane that was carrying around 224 passengers, had skid off the runway and crash-landed at the Kathmandu Airport in March 2015.

Luckily, the crash did not harm any of the passengers on-board. But, the airport had to remain shut for almost four days till the removal of the crash-landed plane.

Eventually, the plane was parked aside at a corner of the airport where it remained exposed to open environment rusting for almost two years.

Here is where Upreti’s initiative to create the country’s largest aviation museum began.

“It is unfortunate that the aircraft had an accident and was grounded, but I saw a perfect opportunity,” says Upreti.

A Struggle Behind

Upreti’s efforts to turn the crashed plane into an aviation museum began with bringing the crashed plane 63 meter from airport across the road to the museum lot.

As a process, Upreti recalls a similar experience he had in transporting an abandoned Fokker 100, half the size of Airbus A330, 500 km to Dhangadi of Nepal’s far west to set up a museum on a smaller scale than the present one.

“Transporting that plane across districts was much easier than relocating the Airbus meters away from the airport,” adds Upreti.

He has changed the interior of the plane by removing the entire seating set up and made it spacious.

Upreti invested USD 600,000 and also acquired Rs 20 million aid in loan from the Everest Bank to build the museum.

“As per the contract, if we are unable to run the aviation museum after 10 years from now, all the parts of this museum will be sold to junkyards. I hope that won’t happen,” says Bed.

An Inspiration to Youth, A Must for Tourists

                 (Bedi Prasad Upreti)

Upreti was hopeful that the museum will be an inspiration to youngsters towards pursuing careers in pilot and engineering courses.

“Passers-by are already peeking to get a glimpse,” adds Upreti with confidence over huge public attention to the museum.

The museum-turned plane features a model of the world’s first aircraft of Wright Brothers’ in the business class section and a café in the in the tail part.

“The museum will give a chance to some Nepalis who might never fly to step into a plane,” says Shyam Rauniyar (22), an engineering student who was part of the team that prepared the model of the Wright Brother’s plane. 

Besides, the museum also features more than 150 miniature display planes that illustrate the world’s aviation history and also the story of Nepal’s flying industry.

The museum offers free entry for the students of Grade IX-XII across Nepal provided they have an official letter endorsing the visit from their schools and all the students with IDs get 50 percent off.

“It is not possible to give free tickets to all the students, but we are trying discounts. We are also encouraging students to pursue higher studies to make their career in aviation field,” says Upreti on offering free tickets to the students.

The museum also displays 86 photographs of Upreti’s journey to 80 countries so far. The captured displays include historical and cultural monuments of Nepal in an aerial view and also the underwater captures of various seas all over.

Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft with 208 feet in height and 55 feet in width.

For a Social Cause

Besides driving the youth towards careers in aviation sector, the museum planned under the Bed Upreti Trust also stands for a noble social cause.

“The Bed Upreti Trust is a non-profit organization that has already set up an aviation museum in an abandoned Fokker 100 in Dhangadi. The revenue from that project goes to assist cancer patients. The museum in Kathmandu is a sequel to the Dhangadi venture for which the Trust has partnered with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN),” informed Upreti.

In Response to Cause for Global Aviation

         Model of crash-landed Airbus A330 aircraft

This aviation museum is part of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s efforts to address a severe shortage of pilots across the world.

In this regard, ICAO has started a Next-Generation Aviation Professional program and has called on its partner organizations across the globe to implement the same.

“CAAN has responded to this call by starting its own campaign to get students interested in the aviation sector in Nepal. This aviation museum is a part of that effort and a result of cooperation between CAAN and the Bed Upreti Trust,” says Birendra Prasad Shrestha, Deputy Director, CAAN.

According to a recent survey, the global aviation industry will need 350,000 new pilots and 450,000 aeronautical technicians within the next decade.

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