Investigation of authority and parliamentary committee on the construction of Pokhara and Bhairahawa airports built on loans

Although both the projects included in the list of national pride were completed a few years ago, international flights have not been regularised. Not only that, the matter of interest groups unnaturally increasing the cost in the construction of the airport is also more suspicious. There are no other flights except some international chartered ones at Pokhara Airport. Since Kuwait Island has been flying Gautam Buddha, he has also left since Baisakh. There is no commercial flight in Pokhara yet. Pokhara Airport is an airport built with Chinese loan assistance and loan assistance from donor agencies including Gautam Buddha Asian Development Bank.

The airport under investigation by the parliamentary subcommittee was built by a Chinese contractor company. According to the Auditor General's office, 61 billion rupees have been spent to complete both airports. But since the flights are not regular, questions have started to arise regarding the justification of the construction of the airport and its future. In order to reduce the burden of flights from Tribhuvan International Airport, Pokhara and Gautam Buddha Airports were built as a project of national pride by taking loans from donors as an alternative.

According to the 61st annual report of the General Account, the construction of Pokhara Airport 25.34 billion and Gautam Buddha Airport 35.66 billion was completed. It was decided that Pokhara Airport would be built at a cost of 22 billion in two years and Gautam Buddha in 3 years at a cost of 30.91 billion. But the cost was increased by adding 2 more years and Gautam Buddha 4 years more than the default to build Pokhara airport.

Although complaints about irregularities in the construction of both airports have been filed with various government agencies, the people involved are still outside the scope of action. It is doubtful that there will be a fair investigation by the parliamentary committee regarding the irregularity in its construction, as not only the political power-center and businessmen, but also the interests of external parties are connected.

The interests of political parties and economic maneuvers are also connected with the construction of both airports. "Rather than raising questions about the construction of the airport and investigating it impartially, wasn't the committee formed with the intention of singling out someone?" This matter is the main thing," said a former secretary who is monitoring the airport construction and irregularities. "There is doubt that the two parliamentary sub-committees will conduct a detailed study/investigation on the activities during the construction."

A 12-member sub-committee has been formed under the coordination of RPP President and MP Rajendra Prasad Lingden to investigate the construction of Pokhara Airport and an 8-member sub-committee has been formed under the coordination of UML Secretary and MP Yogesh Bhattarai to investigate Gautam Buddha Airport. Both the sub-committees have been asked to submit their reports within a maximum of one month, said Rishikesh Pokharel, Chairman of the Audit Committee.

The sub-committee formed under the coordination of Lingden for the construction of Pokhara Airport has Arjunnar Singh KC, Gokulprasad Baskota, Janardan Sharma, Tara Lama Tamang, Tejulal Chaudhary, Deepak Giri, Devprasad Timalsina, Prem Bahadur Ale, Ramkrishna Yadav, Rukmini Rana Barailly and Lekhnath Dahal as members. A committee consisting of Achyuta Prasad Mainali, Amresh Kumar Singh, Vikram Pandey, Manju Khan, Manish Jha, Shyam Kumar Ghimire and Saraj Ahmed Farooqui has been formed to investigate the Gautam Buddha Airport.

The Pokhara Airport project started from the financial year 074/75 and was to be completed in 077/78, but it was delayed by 2 years and extended to 079/80. It showed an expenditure of 25 billion 34 crore rupees. The construction of Gautam Budh Airport was started on January 1, 1971 and the goal was to be completed by January 1, 1974. This work schedule has also been revised and moved to the construction completion period till December 078. This airport has been in commercial operation since May 079. But now commercial flights are stopped. While the initial contract for the Gautam Buddha Airport project was 30 billion 91 million, the construction period was extended to 35 billion 66 million including value added tax.

Pokhara Airport was built with a 22 billion loan from the Chinese government and a 7 billion loan with Gautam Budh ADB and the rest is the financial responsibility of the Nepalese government. Chairman of the Audit Committee Pokharel said that the sub-committee has been mandated to study/investigate the overall aspects of the master plan, cost/contract, construction and the entire aspects that have been done so far and submit a report with opinions on the need for both airports.

These international airports were built as a project of national pride. But now there is no international flight from both airports," Chairman Pokharel said to Kantipur, "Has this increased the country's reputation and pride? Why was the project made without flight? Why was there no discussion about international flights after the completion of the project before the start of the project? We have to study this passage deeply. Before opening a tea shop in the market/chowk, one has to think ten times and decide whether the tea shop will work or not. Did it increase the pride of the country? Now this matter has become very complicated.'

A complaint was filed with the authority last year on suspicion of corruption of more than 2 billion at Pokhara Airport. An official said that the investigation is ongoing. After the complaint, Ministry of Tourism, Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, officials and contractors of Pokhara International Airport project unit have been investigated for irregularities in the construction of the project. The flight started at Pokhara International Airport from 17th January 2017. Since then, 4 Chinese and one Bhutanese ships have not been able to fly except those chartered.

The contractor has deducted Rs 2.224 billion due to the state for customs duties, tariffs and value added tax, but only 30 meters of the height of the runway should be cut. They falsely claimed that it was brought by paying royalty, many other physical structures of the airport were also built against the terms and agreements, the provisional agreement was reduced to 31 million 70 thousand dollars in the provisional agreement and the consulting cost was 229 million 98 million from the original budget and 37 million 95 million 90 million against the agreement. The authority has raised the main question about the thousand shown.

080 After about a week and a half from October 23, the authority took control of all the documents related to the construction of the airport from the National Planning Commission, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, Pokhara Regional Airport Project Implementation Unit and other agencies. The Chinese government built the project from China CAMC Engineering Company with a loan of about 22 billion rupees with investment from Exim Bank.

071 May 8 Construction contract was signed on 072 Chait 8 regarding taking loan. On May 23, 2007, a letter regarding concessional loans was signed between the authority and the Chinese side. The General Accountant had suggested that an investigation should be conducted saying that the addition of provisions that were not in the initial agreement to complete the project caused financial loss to the state. Even though a complaint was filed during the construction of the

project, after questions were raised from the Accountant General, the authority came to the conclusion that an investigation should be conducted. After that, the authority, which proceeded with the investigation, seized all the documents from the relevant agencies 9 months ago. The government had signed an agreement on May 22, 2014 to build the airport through the Chinese company CAMC. After including value added, the cost of the project was reached to 244 million 40 thousand US dollars. In the

agreement, it is mentioned that regardless of the company inside or outside the country, the responsibility of paying the taxes and fees incurred in the construction will belong to the construction company. However, contrary to the original agreement, with the connivance of the contractor/construction company, the project unit and the senior officials of the Civil Aviation Authority, it has been found that the amount due to customs duties and tariffs and value added tax has been discounted by adding provisions contrary to the conditions in the list of the master plan. In this way, the authority investigated the granting of discounts against the agreement as an irregularity.

In the 60th report, the Accountant General has questioned the issue of 2 billion 224 million rupees discount against the initial agreement. The initial agreement was that the height of the chinedanda at a distance of 1.5 km to the east from the runway of the airport should be cut by 30 meters. But in agreement the height of the runway was cut by 40 meters by changing the initial conditions/agreement. The reason for overcutting the height was to use the stones and soil from there for runways. While there was an agreement to bring the material required for the runway from a distance of 5 km on payment of royalty. Even though the stones and gravel that came out during the lowering of the height of the runway were used in the construction of the airport, fake documents were submitted by the project unit and the contractor, brought from 5 km away. It seems that the project unit has approved it.

It seems that the stones, gravel and soil left after cutting the hills were used for the construction of the airport. If it was not used, the construction material would have been managed somewhere, it could be seen even now as a proof,' said the research source, 'the material from cutting was used in the construction of the airport, but during the payment, a fake statement was submitted that the material was brought from a distance of 5 km by paying royalty, this is sheer. It is corruption.'

'Stones mixed with gravel and soil from the runway were not disposed of by the builders, so it was seen that they were used on the runway,' said the General Account's report, 'from which the builders had to pay royalties and bring them from outside. Since the material is on the site, the businessmen should analyze the impact of this when they do not have to purchase and transport from outside.' A separate consultant was appointed to increase the expenditure. In collusion with the contractor, the authority amended the initial contract to increase the consultant's expenses. By revising the standards, the cost of consultants was fixed at 379.5 million 90 thousand rupees.

'Though there is provision for the cost of consulting services in the agreement itself, the authority made a separate agreement without spending from it, revised the design so that it would be spent from the budget of the authority and entered into an agreement with another consultancy that would cost 379 million 95 lakh 90 thousand rupees, this decision has caused a loss to the state.' It is stated in the report of the Accountant General.