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Pokhara, June 23. A parliamentary committee arrived in Pokhara on Sunday evening to conduct a site visit to the Pokhara airport, which was opened on January 17, 2079 but still has no international flights.
The airport study subcommittee headed by Rajendra Lingden has reached Pokhara to find out the reasons why international flights have stopped operating.
A subcommittee chaired by Lingden was set up on June 13 to look into the matter following a complaint to the Public Accounts Committee.
Subcommittee coordinator Linden told Habar Online that 11 councillors and two staff members have arrived in Pokhara to participate in the study.
“A team of 11 dignitaries and two staff members, the Gandaki Province Public Accounts Committee and stakeholders in Pokhara will conduct an on-site study and observation of the airport from Monday morning,” said Linden. “What is the technical angle to allow international flights after such a long time of opening? We will try to find out the problem.”
The team will return to Kathmandu after the study on Monday. Coordinator Linden said that after returning to Kathmandu, he will send technicians and experts again as needed to study the situation from the contract to the construction so far.
Besides Linden, the parliamentary subcommittee that came to Pokhara included Maoist Centre leader Janadan Sharma, UML leader Gokuprasad Baskota, CPN-UML’s Prem Bahadur Alai, Nepali Congress’s Deprasad Timilsina, Arjun Narsingh KC, Deepak Giri, Rukmini Rana Bareli, Tara Lama Tamang, Ramkrishna Yadav and Amanlal Modi.
Deputy Minister Savitra Sharma, who is participating in the delegation, said a presentation on the project from construction to operation will be made on Monday morning, followed by a site visit and interaction at the site in the afternoon.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda inaugurated the Pokhara International Airport on the occasion of the New Year 2023. However, so far, the airport has only operated domestic flights, apart from some international charter flights.
There have been complaints that international flights could not take off due to errors and irregularities in the construction of the airport. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Power is also probing the construction of Pokhara International Airport from its construction contract to its operation.
The subcommittee headed by Linden to study the Pokhara airport will submit a report on the status of the airport to the Public Accounts Committee within a month. The committee is also responsible for investigating whether there is sufficient pre-construction study or study and construction conditions.
The issue of lapses in airport construction is being raised under the agreement between the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and China National Engineering Corporation.
It is expected that the airport runway will be constructed at a height lower than the agreed level and funds may be misused.
The auditor general’s report also suggested that the height of Rithepani Mountain must be lowered by 40 meters after an allocation of US$80 million and the transportation of earth and rocks from 5 kilometers away to fill the gap.
A situation has arisen near the Pokhara airport where a water tank of the Drinking Water Research Institute must be removed. There are also differences regarding the project on the water tank with Zaika, who has been engaged in the Pokhara water supply project for a long time.
The representatives of the project have been saying that due to insufficient research during the construction of the airport, heavy rains and sewage discharge occurred in the airport area. The Chief Accountant has been questioning the granting of large tax exemptions, making designs different from the original design and the consultants themselves.
At the time of the agreement, it was stated that the airport would cost Rs 22.61 billion to build, but the loan investment amounted to Rs 28 billion. On March 21, 2016 (8 Chait, 2072), the airport was built by China International Engineering Corporation, which signed a loan agreement with the Nepal-China government.
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