MoU signed on rehabilitation of TIA

Kathmandu : A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with Chinese firm China National Agro Technology International Engineering Corporation for the rehabilitation of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) runway. Following the agreement with Chinese company on Monday, rehabilitation of the TIA’s runway has commenced. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said that agreement was held for the completion of the project at the cost of Rs 3.75 billion excluding of tax amount. The runway has never been completely repaired after it was developed in 1980.
According to the CAAN, the upgradation works of the runway shall begin from April 1, 2019. In the first phase, the blacktop of runway should be changed in 3,000 metres and 80 metres runway would be prepared everyday with the milling machine. During the period, the TIA would remain closed for 10 hours from 10 pm to 8 am every day. After the completion of the runway, construction of the parking bay would begin.
The government planned to rehabilitate the runway after the blacktop of the existing runway of the country’s only international airport’s created problems repeatedly due to its poor status. Likewise, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari said that completing the rehabilitation project of the runway in a year was the topmost priority of the government.
Minister Adhikari said that rehabilitation of the TIA’s runway and construction of the Gautam Buddha International Airport would be completed in a year and claimed that tourist arrival would cross 2 million in numbers in 2020. As per the international standards, the runway of the international airport should be rehabilitated in every ten years. RSS