The government has requested the Chinese side to convert the loan taken during the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport into a grant. The Ministry of Finance has written a letter to the Chinese side requesting to convert the loan into a grant.

Dhaniram Sharma, Head of International Financial Aid Coordination Division, Ministry of Finance, handed over the letter to Yang Weikun, Vice President of China International Development Cooperation Agency, in an event held at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

Before handing over the letter, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel requested the Chinese side to convert the loan taken during the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport into a grant, paying special attention to the condition of Nepal's economy as China is a good neighbor of Nepal. He expressed confidence that the request made by the Nepalese government will be fulfilled by the Chinese side. Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Ram Prasad Ghimire and China's Ambassador to Nepal Chan Song were present on that occasion.

For the Pokhara Regional International Airport, the Government of Nepal agreed to take a loan of about 25 billion 88 million rupees (1338.74 million Chinese Yuan) from China's Exim Bank according to the current exchange rate. On March 8, 2072, a loan agreement was signed for the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport, and the construction work began on December 27, 2073. Pokhara Regional International Airport was inaugurated on December 17, 1979. In the

program, four separate cooperation letters related to construction of 8.2 km road from Kalanki to Vasundhara-Maharajganj of Kathmandu ring road, upgrading of Hilsa-Simikot road section to two lanes, construction of ICP and ICD at Korla pass in Mustang and feasibility study of repair and improvement of Arani highway and landslide control works. Signed.

Finance Secretary Ghimire on behalf of Nepal Government and Yang Weikun, Vice President of China International Development Cooperation Agency on behalf of China, signed the agreement. Finance Minister Paudel requested for the Chinese government's support in infrastructure construction of Veer Hospital, Madan Bhandari University of Science and Technology, preparation of DPR and infrastructure construction. Vice President Yang Weikun informed that the request has been received from the Government of Nepal and the Chinese side will study it and proceed with the further process.

The Pokhara International Airport project was started from the financial year 074/75 and completed in 077/78. Since its initial cost was set at 22 billion, the project was scheduled to be completed in 079/80 after 2 years delay. In which 25 billion 34 crore rupees were shown. After the completion of the project, outside the airport area, 500 hectares of land from Manipal, Seti river and Kahu river, 4 km to the north, during the rainy season, the water coming from internal roads and Prithvi highway drains and irrigation canals entered the airport area. is mentioned.

Although the airport was built with Chinese loan assistance, it suffered only a loss because it was not put into operation. The General Accounting Office has instructed the government to bring the airport into operation in coordination with various countries and airlines.

The construction work of Gautam Buddha International Airport started on January 1, 2011 and was scheduled to be completed by December 2014, but the schedule was revised and the construction completion period was pushed to December 2018. The airport had been operating commercially since May 079. Even though the airport has been built with such a huge amount of money, international flights have not been conducted regularly. 

The Auditor General's Office has instructed to coordinate with the airlines and various countries for international flights from the airport. The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives formed a parliamentary sub-committee to investigate the financial irregularities in the construction of the airport last June.

A 12-member sub-committee has been formed under the coordination of RPP Chairman and MP Rajendra Prasad Lingden to investigate the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport and an 8-member sub-committee has been formed under the coordination of UML Secretary and MP Yogesh Bhattarai to investigate Gautam Buddha International Airport.

Both the sub-committees were given time to submit their reports within a maximum of one month, but the deadline has been extended saying that the study has not been completed. Arjun Narsingh KC, Gokulprasad Baskota, Janardan Sharma, Tara Lama Tamang, Tejulal Chaudhary, Deepak Giri, Devprasad Timalsina, Prem Bahadur Ale, Ramkrishna Yadav, Rukmani Rana Baraili and Lekhnath Dahal are members of the sub-committee formed under the coordination of Lingden regarding Pokhara Airport construction.