The expansion of Surkhet Airport has been stalled for 5 years, and the process of building a new airport in Bheriganga at a cost of 26 billion rupees has been initiated. The distance between these airports is only 33 kilometers.

What is strange is that the government is allocating a budget for Surkhet Airport every year. About 3 billion rupees have been frozen. This year too, the government has allocated 50 million rupees for the expansion of this airport.

As an alternative to Surkhet Airport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has initiated the process of constructing a provincial-level 'Surkhet Bheriganga-Ramghat' airport in Bheriganga Municipality-9, 10 and 11 wards. The authority has stated that it is finalizing the environmental impact assessment study report for the proposed airport. For this, the authority has made public a study report on the positive and negative impacts that may occur in the affected areas during the implementation of the project on Bhadra 21. There is a plan to build a runway of about 2,700 meters in length and about 700 meters in width and to build a 12,000 square foot hangar, a 24,000 square foot terminal building and a 2,500 square foot control tower.

Civil Aviation Authority Director Hari Prasad Adhikari said that the airport construction is estimated to cost around Rs 26 billion. According to him, the area where the airport will be built includes four community forests and some national forests. He informed that the airport will be built within 5 years on 217 hectares of land. Bheriganga Municipality Mayor Yagya Prasad Dhakal said that if the airport construction work is completed quickly, it will play an important role in the economic prosperity of Karnali.

The government, which has taken forward the construction of a new airport, has not been able to take forward the work of upgrading Surkhet Airport for years. For the expansion of Surkhet Airport, which was built in 2021, 2034 BS, 2061 BS and 2065 BS, 28 bighas, 10 katthas and 14 dhurs of land have been acquired three times in 2034 BS, 2061 BS and 2065 BS. Now the government is preparing to acquire another 30 bighas of land. The government has planned to expand the 1,255-meter-long runway by 300 meters to the north and acquire 460 meters of land to the south.

Aircraft with a capacity of 72 seats are landing on the current runway. Airport chief Rajan Raj Dhungel said that the potential risks in take-off and landing will be reduced after the runway expansion. ‘The plan to expand the airport has been in place for 5 years, but our work is stuck in the compensation dispute,’ he said. ‘After a large amount of money was frozen in previous years, the federal government has allocated only a small budget this year. We have not even received the budget authorization yet.’

In the first phase, the provincial government had allocated Rs 500 million and the federal government Rs 510 million for the airport expansion. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the federal and provincial governments for the expansion on Asoj 15, 2077. But when the work did not progress, about Rs 1.1 billion was frozen.

The government had allocated a budget of Rs 1.5 billion in 2078/79. Although the Civil Aviation Authority and the provincial government stopped land transactions to proceed with the expansion work and moved forward with the data collection work, the amount was also frozen after locals protested. Tikaram Acharya, coordinator of the Citizens' Concerns Committee, said that a large number of public and private structures are being removed without any alternative without any discussion at the local level. According to him, 923 families from wards 10, 11, and 12 of Birendranagar Municipality, along with one community school, will be affected by the airport expansion.

According to the authority, it is estimated that about Rs 9.4 billion will be spent on compensation distribution and airport expansion. Birendranagar Municipality Mayor Mohan Maya Dhakal said that closing the existing airport and moving it elsewhere is not an acceptable issue for the city residents. "It is necessary to expand the airport as soon as possible by arranging appropriate compensation," she said. "It is necessary to make it possible to land large aircraft easily, expand the runway to avoid possible accidents, and make it possible to operate domestic flights at night from this airport."

Civic leader Durga Prasad Sapkota says that this airport should be expanded rather than building another airport half an hour away from Birendranagar.