Kathmandu, September 18
A government-commissioned panel has suggested that Nijgadh is the best option for constructing the next international airport in the country.
The panel submitted its report to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday in the presence of Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Jeevan Ram Shrestha.
In August, the government formed a team led by Birendra Deuja, a former chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to come up with a suggestion about the most appropriate place to construct the new international airport.
After the full text of the Supreme Court order that cancelled the ongoing airport project had come out, the government said it would restart the plan and construct the airport there itself. Accordingly, the experts’ team had been formed.
While the panel has stuck to Nijgadh as the best place, it has recommended dropping the idea of an airport city to minimise the environmental risk as told by the Supreme Court.
Experts and activists, however, claim the court order has not left any option to construct the airport there.
