The committee formed by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation for recommendations to resolve the problems in aviation sector has advised to not construct any domestic airport for five years.
The committee formed by Minister Rabindra Adhikari immediately after his appointment at the ministry has recommended to the government to adopt alternative measures to reduce pressure on the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), but not construct an alternative airport.
The committee including former secretary Birendra Bahadur Deuja, Captain PJ Shah, civil engineer Kamal KC, Suman Shrestha and Prabha Baidya has recommended to not construct another airport on a whim when many existing airports across the country are not in use.
Just 32 of the 48 domestic airports across the country are currently in operation and only four of them are making profit. The committee has recommended to form a list of the loss-making airports that must be operated, and operate them even by providing subsidy.
It has also deemed that simple reforms in the TIA can reduce pressure in the airport and advised the government to focus on management of that. It has concluded that there is pressure on the TIA due to lack to parking way, short parallel taxi way, the practice of arbitrary granting of slots, and not operating night flights to destinations where possible.
Member of the committee Deuja opined that ministers must not look to build new airports for cheap popularity. “It is not appropriate for every new minister to talk about new airports,” Deuja said during a discussion on the committee’s report. “Ministers should look for long terms not decisions for cheap popularity.”
The committee has advised the government to upgrade TIA as soon as possible. It has advised to operate night flights to all airports in tarai, not grant slots during the busy schedule from now onward, and change the current slots even if upgradation of TIA were to take three years.
It has similarly recommended to bring Gautam Buddha Regional International Airport into operation as soon as possible, and shift some international flights there, and also complete Nijgadh International Airport within 10 years.
It has also advised to give airports outside Kathmandu as base airport for the planes to come into operation from now onward.
The ministry has already taken a decision to build an airport at Nagidanda of Kavre and the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has also allocated resources for the airport. Minister Adhikari calls the airport a sure-shot measure to manage aviation pressure and seems build it at any cost.
But many argue that there is no logic in building an airport there. Officials at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), and aviation and tourism entrepreneurs argue that the Nagidanda Airport, termed sure-shot measure, is not necessary and will not have any benefit for the country.
They mainly have three arguments.
The first is, the government has already initiated the process of constructing Nijgadh Airport while the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track to connect with Nijgadh is already under construction. The Fast Track will be completed within five years while the government aims to complete the Nijgadh Airport in six years.
The majority of international flights will then operate from Nijgadh, and the TIA can handle domestic flights. Capacity of TIA can also be increased through upgradation and expansion.
The second, the runway at the Rs 10-billion Nagidanda Airport cannot be more than 1,200 meters long. ATR and other bigger planes currently in operation for domestic flights cannot land in such a small runway. That runway can only be used by smaller planes operating flights to remote places and helicopters. Only the flights to Lukla, Tumlingtar and other eastern hilly districts, therefore, can be shifted from Kathmandu to the airport.
The third, mere construction of an airport at Nagidanda will not suffice. There must also be a fast route to come to Kathmandu from there. Passengers have to suffer crippling traffic congestion in Banepa-Surya Binayak-Koteshwore road even now, and congestion will increase even further by the time the airport will come into operation. A 2.50-kilometer road will also have to be built from Banepa to the airport.
Minister Adhikari, however, argued that there will be no problem in connecting the airport to Kathmandu.
"The road is being expanded till Dhulikhel. Bids have already been invited for metro rail to connect Nagdhunga with Dhulikhel. We can also allot a dedicated lane for vehicles coming from the airport in the Banepa-Bhaktapur section," he pointed.
Nobody knows when Dhulikhel-Nagdhunga metro will be completed so the argument that the metro will help the airport that Minister Adhikari claims will be completed in two and a half years does not hold water. The committee that he formed, on the other hand, has concluded that it will take five years to complete the airport.
