The construction work of Gautam Buddha International Airport, in Bhairahawa, a national pride project, has been completed.
After completing all the work under ICB-1 and ICB-2, the airport is now waiting for the test flights.
According to the Airport Expansion Project (AEP), the sooner the test flight is completed, the sooner the airport will be operational.
Austrian technicians are currently at the airport to train the technical team on test flights. Similarly, Thai technicians have also started training there.
The AEP has informed that the technicians will return only after the completion of the test flight.
According to Prabesh Adhikari, project chief, all the work under ICB-1 and ICB-2 has been completed and now the airport is ready for a test flight. The date of handing over the project will be fixed on the day of the test flight, he said.
The date of the test flight has to be fixed by the Civil Aviation Authority. Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group, a Chinese contractor in charge of making the airport of international standard, had started the construction work from January 15, 2015, by signing an international competitive bidding (ICB-1) for the first phase of the work.
ICB-1 has 3,000 metres of runway, four-link taxiways, a parking capacity for up to five international ships, a terminal building, an administrative building, a control tower, a fire control building, a water tank, an iron fence, a canal, and a parking lot with a capacity of 500 cars. The work on car parking, electrical work, work including terminal building equipment and taxiway have all been completed now.
Three levels of work have been completed at the International Airport. The compensation of Rs. 6.82 billion under ICB-1, Rs. 500 million under International ICB-II and Rs 22.40 billion have been distributed under the third package. In addition, Rs. 900 million has been spent on cargo construction.
The airport has been constructed with an investment of over Rs. 30 billion. The government of Nepal has invested 37.4 per cent and ADB 62.6 per cent of the total amount.
The completed airport has now got a 12th level general manager.
Govinda Prasad Dahal has arrived at the airport as its General Manager. Dahal said that final preparations were being made for the operation of the airport. He said that Aero Thai technicians had come from Thailand for the study and that a test flight could take place about a month after their report.
Currently, there are 34 posts at the airport. But Dahal informed that the airport now has positions of 151 staff after being expanded as an international airport. In addition, there will be 103 staff members for service, 167 police, 17 to 20 meteorologists, immigration, customs, quarantine and other staff.
Apart from immigration, customs, quarantine and security, if an additional 20 people are added to operate the airport now, the international airport will be operational for now, Dahal said.
Source : TRN,
