Pokhara Regional International Airport not easy to pay off loan taken for construction

 

KATHMANDU, Jan 04: Pokhara Regional International Airport was inaugurated on Sunday with fanfare. It is a good thing that this airport is operational. But along with this, the loan taken for the construction of the airport is surrounded by high interest.

Nepal took a loan of 22 billion rupees through China's Exim Bank for the construction of the airport. Exim Bank has given 75% loan and 25% subsidy.

The installment of the loan taken seven years ago will have to be paid from March this year. The interest is also not cheap like other donor agencies, two percent expensive interest has to be paid to the Chinese bank. Nepal has to pay 33 million rupees annually to EXIM Bank only for interest. This loan is to be repaid in 20 years.

Loans from international donor agencies are less than one percent. Will the return of this airport, built by paying expensive interest, come? It is not immediately possible to pay the interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.

Before constructing any project, its returns are considered. But an official of the Ministry of Finance at that time said that the construction of this airport was based on feelings and not on returns.

The official says that this is the result of not having a system to take loans only by looking at the suitability of the infrastructure. Only medium and small planes can fly in this airport, which was built with an investment of 22 billion.

It seems difficult to have international commercial flights only with medium and small planes in this airport, which cannot accommodate large planes. Pokhara Airport is classified as 'Category 2' by the Civil Aviation Authority. Where the plane needs a minimum visibility of 3800 meters for landing and 1500 meters for flight. Airbus a320 and Boeing 757 or similar aircraft with 150 to 180 seats can fly at this airport.

Not only that, there is only one company operating international flights at Gautam Buddha International Airport, which came into operation six months ago with an investment of more than 25 billion including land compensation. That too is not on the regular schedule.

Even though the  Civil Aviation Authority Nepal tried to implement the mandatory system, international flights have not been able to take place there. Despite the severe air congestion at Tribhuvan International Airport, no foreign company is ready to go to Gautam Buddha. An employee of the authority says that it cannot be believed that foreign companies fly to Pokhara Airport in such adverse conditions.

According to him, it is not seen that foreign companies will fly to Pokhara immediately. "Our domestic airline has said that it will fly to India. That too will be provided by looking at Pokhara's traffic,' said the employee, 'There is no immediate possibility of international flights from here. It is a different thing that someone comes by charter.'

Looking at all these circumstances, the loan cannot be paid from the proceeds of Pokhara Airport. According to those employees, it is beneficial to let an international company run a global tender for the operation of the airport. Even if it is given to a foreign company, it will not be possible to repay the loan. But he says that there is a possibility that they will be able to earn some of the debt.