Even after three years of operation, Pokhara International Airport, built with a five-decade-long dream of Pokhareli and a Chinese loan investment of about Rs 28 billion, is in a state of 'undeclared blockade' for international flights.

Despite encouraging progress in domestic flights, this prestigious project is now caught in a financial and diplomatic quandary due to technical glitches, corruption issues and strategic disputes between India and China.

Experts participating in an interaction on ‘Pokhara International Airport: Current Status and Future Roadmap’ organized by the Center for Social Innovation and Foreign Policy (CESSIF) in Pokhara on Tuesday concluded that diplomatic initiatives and debt restructuring are the last option to save it from becoming a ‘white elephant’.

CESSIF Executive Chairman and diplomat Vijayakant Karna described the current state of the airport as a vivid example of Nepal’s weak infrastructure governance and policy deviations. ‘Nepal’s overall infrastructure governance is currently going through a serious structural crisis,’ he said. ‘Pokhara Airport has become a symbol of a serious financial crisis in Nepal’s aviation sector. The burden of paying $3.24 million in annual interest on the $216 million loan taken from the Chinese Exim Bank has challenged our public financial management.’

He added, citing a New York Times investigative report and a parliamentary subcommittee report, ‘Aircraft are now facing ‘load penalties’ because the contractor company violated technical standards and reduced the height of the runway to increase profits. Although the prosecution of 55 people in a corruption case of Rs 14 billion has raised some hope, diplomatic initiatives are essential to convert the Chinese loan into grants to make the airport operational.’

According to the report presented by researcher Surangana Rajyalakshmi Rana, the contractor company CMC has received $8.06 million in illegal profits by reducing the height of the runway by 41 feet in violation of the agreement during the construction of the airport. This has added to the technical complexity that prevents large and medium-haul aircraft from flying at full capacity.

The CIAA has already brought 5 former ministers and 10 former secretaries to the special court over irregularities in this project. Although this legal process has exposed the policy-level corruption, the commercial future of the airport is still uncertain.

Former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Anandaraj Mulmi said that Pokhara has been hit by the controversy over whether Pokhara Airport will be included in the Chinese 'BRI' project or not and India's refusal to provide new air routes. 'It has been 14 years since we were blacklisted by the European Union due to buying Chinese aircraft, which has devastated our aviation sector,' he said. Conservationist Hemant Dhakal pointed out that the risk of birds still exists in the airport area and that neglect in waste management has added to the security challenge.

Pokhara Metropolitan City Mayor Dhanraj Acharya countered that experts have called the airport a 'white elephant'. He claimed that calling the airport a failure is an insult to the 50-year struggle of Pokhara. ‘How did this airport, which operates flights until 11 pm and serves more than 1 million passengers annually, become a ghost airport?’ he asked, ‘On what basis was the busiest airport after Kathmandu called a failure? Is Pokhara always a place that Kathmandu despises?’ He stressed that action should be taken against those involved in corruption and demanded that the government start direct flights from Delhi, Dehradun and Lucknow through diplomatic initiatives.