Kathmandu, May 6
The failure to operate three
large infrastructure projects – Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA),
Pokhara International Airport (PIA) and Kathmandu Dry Port – has forced Nepal to
rethink about its ecosystem for project development and operation.
These multi-billion rupees
projects couldn't take off and have not shown any sign to run profitably any
time soon. Experts and businesspeople have been wondering about the poor
functioning of the projects of which two airports fall under the 'national
pride' category even though they witnessed time overrun allowing greater
time-span for planning and promotion.
The government has
defined the Pride Projects as special development programmes that would be
milestones in economic growth, social transformation, job creation and capital formation
in the country. However, the large infrastructure plans except energy projects
such as Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower have failed to achieve those targets and
maintain the hopes of ordinary people.
The GBIA in Bhairahawa,
about 265 km south-west of Kathmandu at the border with India, was developed at
a cost of Rs. 9.8 billion. It was slated to be completed in 2017 but finished only
in 2022, almost five years later. It witnessed multiple deadlines even before
2020 when the then Minister for Tourism, late Rabindra Adhikari wanted it to be
ready for the Visit Nepal 2020, the programme that was ditched by the COVID-19
pandemic.
Currently, only Jazeera
Airlines is conducting international flights from Middle East to GBIA.
Himalayan Airlines had also started its international flight services from the
airport but called it a day within a month as it couldn't find enough
passengers.
Third international
airport of the country was also inaugurated in Pokhara, a tourism centre 200 km
west of Kathmandu, on the first day of this year eight months since the GBIA
was put into service. But the Rs. 22 billion airport has got no business so
far.
Likewise, the Kathmandu
Dry Port, the trade infrastructure a couple of kilometres away from Kathmandu,
has also failed to attract the traders and exporters to conduct their business.
It only sees the entry of 2-5 containers in a day although it has all the
facilities like customs office, banking counters and quarantine on its
premises.
Missed economic
opportunity
This failure in
attracting business in these infrastructure projects has caused huge economic
losses to the government and private sector businesses. Dozens of large-scale
and many tourism-level hotels and resorts have been launched in and around
Bhairahawa in hopes that the second international airport in the country would
bring in thousands of passengers, tourists and pilgrims every day.
Now, hoteliers in
Bhairahawa are facing hard times to manage their operation costs and have time
and again demanded with the government to facilitate international flights to
and from Bhairahawa.
Infrastructure expert,
Dr. Surya Raj Acharya, said that this failure was the result of the government
and implementing agency in establishing the rationality and ensuring economic
viability of the projects.
"Take an example of
airports. They are being constructed across the country without any master
plan, study of passenger flow and market promotion. The GBIA and PIA couldn't
perform from the beginning due to this very reason," said Dr. Acharya.
Negligence of authorities
It was the negligence of
the concerned authorities to promote the facilities since they had to do it
before the completion of the infrastructure but their inaction continued even
till the extended deadlines, according to Dr. Acharya. "Why couldn't the
Ministry of Tourism and the government resolve the issue of air route with
India in the past eight years since the GBIA was implemented?" he asked.
However, Spokesperson of
the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Jagannath Niraula, said that it
takes some time for infrastructure like international airports to run in the
desired capacity.
The GBIA could be a hub
for pilgrims and Nepali migrant workers. It can cater to more than half of the
Nepalis going abroad for work. But Bhairahawa doesn't have facilities like
health check-up, visa processing, job-orientation, and manpower agencies. It
seems that other agencies lack interest in facilitating the business and
development.
Bad timing, poor planning
Former Director General
of the CAAN, Sanjiv Gautam, said that the launching of the two international
airports coincided with the global coronavirus pandemic when many airlines
companies were facing hard times to operate their services. Both the government
and private businesses couldn't get enough time for preparation and promotion.
But he also said that the
scenario testified poor project planning and design. "If you consider
about 200,000 foreign tourists and pilgrims visiting Lumbini and half of the
manpower going abroad (more than 200,000), there is enough business for
multiple flights every day," said Gautam. But only three international
flights are happening a week from GBIA.
According to him, it is
not difficult to attract airlines that make rounds in the skies of Kathmandu,
Makwanpur and Dhading for 10-30 minutes to Bhairahawa which is at a distance of
25-30 minutes.
GBIA
Construction of the
Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa, the gateway to Lumbini –
birthplace of Lord Buddha, began in June 2015 with a deadline to complete the
project by December 2017. However, in the later years, the project was delayed
citing the Gorkha earthquake, Indian
blockade, coronavirus pandemic and shortage of construction materials.
It officially came into
operation in May last year. Although Himalayan Airlines ceased its flight to
and from the GBIA, Wiz Air, Fly Dubai, Thai Airlines and Myanmar National
Airlines (MNA) have shown interest in conducting flights there.
A couple of months ago, a
delegation of MNA had come to Nepal to study the possibility of conducting
direct flight from Dhaka to the GBIA. Earlier, in August last year, Ambassador
of Myanmar, U Sein Oo, had informed that the Government of Myanmar was
interested to conduct direct flights.
Likewise, former Foreign
Minister, Dr. Bimala Rai Paudyal had discussed about starting direct flights
from Dhaka to GBIA with Bangladeshi Ambassador to Nepal, Salahudding Noman
Chowdhury in January this year. Meanwhile, several airlines companies of
Thailand have also shown interest to conduct flight to Bhairahawa to tap the
potential of carrying a large number of Buddhist pilgrims.
Pokhara Regional
International Airport
The third international airport in the country built in Pokhara is
without any international flights following the test flights by the Aero Thai.
Tourism and aviation entrepreneurs in Pokhara, Kathmandu and
Bhairahawa have suggested that the agenda of air entry routes through
Mahendranagar should get top priority during the upcoming India visit of Prime
Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda.
Earlier, then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had also
discussed the issue with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. He had requested
for additional air entry routes to Nepal through Mahandranagar, Nepalgunj and
Janakpur, and also for the concurrence of near-border flight operations to
smoothly operationalise the GBIA. But there has been no progress towards making
this happen.
Expressway
holdup
Executive Director of the
NITDB, Ashish Gajurel, said that the dry port was developed as a complimentary
project to the Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track Road). "As the
project is delayed, the dry port is facing hard times to attract trucks and
containers," said Gajurel while asking, "Why would a trader come to
Chobhar to unload their goods making a long round to Kathmandu via
Narayangadh?"
There is a high possibility
of getting more business as the customs points at the northern border with
China are being operated in full capacity. The borders with China have been
shut or run in a limited capacity with about a dozen of containers passing the
borders during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kathmandu Dry Port
The Kathmandu Dry Port,
also known as the Chobhar Inland Clearance Depot (ICD), was expected to
facilitate trade with swift clearance of containers, reduce the load at the
Birgunj and Larcha ICD, and to promote import and export business.
The government had signed
an agreement with the World Bank for financial support in 2013 but it took
about three-and-a-half years to transfer the property from the erstwhile owner
Himal Cement to the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB).
Construction of the dry
port had begun in August 2018 and was completed in July 2021. It has 65,000
square metres space, enough to accommodate 500 containers and 500 trucks. It
has facilities like quarantine, security, operator company office, banks and
other essential services, three warehouses, three appraisal shades, stuffing
and de-stuffing shade, weighing machines, electricity sub-station, and boundary
light.
The project was supposed
to complete by June 2020 but delayed by a year due to COVID-19 pandemic and
protests by the local people. Even worse, the project was inaugurated 10 months
later in April 2022.
Inaugurating the
facility, then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, had said that it would
facilitate trade in a transparent manner and promote sustainable development
through trade facilitation.
Recently, the NITDB has
developed an internal terminal to allow the trucks and containers other than
coming from other countries to unload and warehouse the goods. Gajurel said
that although the ICD is doing about 20-25 per cent of its total business
capacity, the internal terminal has given relief in managing the operation
costs. The NITDB is also holding regular discussions with the businesspeople
including the freight forwarders, and other stakeholders.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 7 May 2023.
