KATHMANDU, Sept 21: Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Engineer Pradeep Adhikari has said that the proposed Nijgadh International Airport will be built with government investment.
Adhikari said that the proposed airport will be built with Nepal government's own investment and Nepali technologies without any foreign investment. He said that the recent propaganda that the airport cannot be built by Nepali technicians and the government is wrong.
The director general insisted that the government and the authority would build the airport by themselves based on the suggestions given by the Nijgadh airport expert group. He said that the expert group also suggested that 60 percent of the investment needed to build the airport would come from the government and 40 percent from CAAN.
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He said that in terms of the cost of building the airport, from deforestation to other constructions, it will reach 1 trillion 20 billion rupees in a period of 7 years if 17 billion rupees is collected annually. Adhikari said that out of Rs 17 billion per year, Rs 10 billion investment from Nepal government and Rs 7 billion from CAAN can build Nijgadh International Airport without the need of looking for foreign investors.
He said that it is necessary to change the thinking that Nepal cannot build an airport on its own. He also said that the proposed airport plan should be a commitment made by the Government of Nepal itself. The director general said that the law related to development and construction in Nepal should be amended. He claimed that billions of rupees were spent due to the need for Nijgadh International Airport.
Similarly, he said that there is still a need for extensive discussion on whether it is suitable to build an airport at the proposed location. He said that in recent years, 1 million air passengers have been increasing annually in Nepal. The official said that now it is seen that air passengers will increase in the Asia Pacific region.
He said that the international or domestic airport should not be built for a temporary period but should be built with a 50-year plan based on the needs and added it will take time for the airport to be fully operational.
He said that since 1 million air passengers are being added annually, it is expected to reach 50 million in 10 years. He mentioned that the capacity of all airports in Nepal is not even for 10 million passengers. He said that it is meaningless to say that there is no need for Nijgadh International Airport since the number of air passengers is increasing.
