Among those under investigation are the Bhairahawa Airport, which was built at a cost of Rs 30 billion, Pokhara Airport, which was built at a cost of Rs 24.58 billion, a 12-story building in Sinamangal, which was built at a cost of Rs 2 billion, a helipad at Nalinchowk in Bhaktapur, which was built at a cost of Rs 300 million, and a surveillance tower in Pokhara, which was built at a cost of Rs 1.25 billion.
What you should know
The Authority is delaying its investigation into major financial scams related to the Civil Aviation Authority, including the construction of Pokhara Regional International and Gautam Buddha International Airports. Even after two years since the Authority began its investigation into the irregularities in these projects, which cost around Rs 60 billion, it has not reached a conclusion.
Among the projects brought under the scope of investigation, Gautam Buddha International Airport was built at a cost of about 30 billion rupees and Pokhara Airport at a cost of 24.58 billion rupees. Similarly, the 12-storey building in Sinamangal was built at a cost of about 2 billion rupees, the helipad at Nalinchowk in Bhaktapur was built at a cost of about 30 million rupees, and the tower for aircraft surveillance in Pokhara was built at a cost of 8.6 million US dollars (about 1.25 billion at the current exchange rate).
The Pokhara Airport construction project was raided in Kartik 2080 and the investigation was initiated. Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives formed a subcommittee under the leadership of RPP leader Rajendra Lingden on Ashad 13, 2081 to investigate. The subcommittee prepared a report in April last year, concluding that at least 10 billion rupees had been involved in corruption and irregularities had been committed since the contract process.
The parliamentary subcommittee had concluded that there were irregularities including an increase of Rs 6.56 billion in the cost of the airport in violation of the public procurement law, a refund of Rs 2.22 billion for tax exemption, and an additional payment of Rs 320 million for the cutting of Chhinedanda. The subcommittee had recommended the suspension and action against 8 employees, including the then project chief and current Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority, Pradeep Adhikari, for committing irregularities in the construction.
Adhikari was the project chief from 2071 to 2074 and has been the Director General of the Authority since 17 Magh 2078. Action was also recommended against project chief Binesh Munkarmi, project director Chandmala Shrestha, engineers Prabin Neupane and Baburam Poudel, project administration chief Rajendra Prasad Poudel, and former project directors Sanjeev Gautam and Rajan Pokharel. Following the parliamentary subcommittee's investigation, the Accounts Committee had directed the Authority in last Jestha to conduct further investigation and take legal action against those involved in corruption.
When the construction of Pokhara Airport began, the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was the decision-maker. Former Prime Ministers Baburam Bhattarai was involved in land acquisition policy formulation, Sher Bahadur Deuba in budget approval, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal in project monitoring. Jhalanath Khanal was the Prime Minister when the compensation was distributed.
The Public Accounts Committee had formed a separate subcommittee on Ashad 13, 2081 to investigate irregularities at Gautam Buddha Airport. However, after opposition that it had prepared a general report without conducting a thorough investigation, another subcommittee was formed on Jestha 4 with Congress MP Manju Khand as the coordinator. Before its report was prepared, the House of Representatives was dissolved on Bhadra 27. After that, the subcommittee became inactive. However, the CIAA had initiated an investigation into the Gautam Buddha Airport case after receiving a report from the Auditor General's Office and other complaints.
The contract agreement for Bhairahawa Airport was signed to start on Magh 1, 2071 and be completed by Poush 2074. However, the deadline for completing the airport construction was pushed back by 4 years to Poush 2078 by amending the work schedule. According to the 62nd audit report of the Auditor General's Office, Rs 29.93 billion was spent on it, including Rs 7.24 billion for construction and Rs 22.69 billion for compensation. There are allegations of irregularities in the distribution of compensation and construction.
More than 450 bighas of land were acquired for Gautam Buddha Airport. Compensation was distributed to 2,200 families during that period. UML leader Yogesh Bhattarai was the Minister of Tourism at the time of the formulation of the compensation policy and budget approval.
The Authority is investigating issues such as artificially increasing the price of land during the valuation process in collusion with the employees of the Authority and local brokers, increasing the price by buying and selling cheap land in 3-4 stages, and distributing compensation by making land donated for public purposes (such as temples, schools, monasteries) the 'fake heirs' of deceased landowners.
The government built Pokhara and Gautam Buddha Airport as projects of national pride. In Jestha 2079, the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Gautam Buddha International Airport and in Poush 2079, the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the Pokhara Regional International Airport.
After receiving a complaint about irregularities in the construction of a 12-story building in Sinamangal, Kathmandu, the CIAA raided the authority office on 16 Asoj 2081 and initiated an investigation. The foundation stone of the so-called modern 12-story building was laid on 27 Magh 2071. At that time, Ratish Chandra Lal Suman was the Director General of the authority. The building was inaugurated on 29 Bhadra 2080 by the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The allegations include the use of low-quality materials in the construction of the building, cost increases, changes to the original design, and covering up procedural weaknesses. It is alleged that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the authority officials were in collusion in the construction of the building.
The authority is also investigating after receiving a complaint about irregularities in the construction of a helipad on 32 ropanis of land owned by the authority in Nalinchok, Bhaktapur. Questions have also been raised over the justification for the construction of a helipad in Nalinchowk. The complaint also mentioned that the Authority had constructed the helipad without conducting an environmental impact assessment. The helipad was inaugurated on 20 August 2002 by the then Tourism Minister Hit Bahadur Tamang and the Director General of the Authority Pradeep Adhikari.
Another case under investigation is the irregularities related to the purchase of transmitter and receiver tower technology from China to monitor aircraft flying through Pokhara Airport.
The Authority had purchased ‘aircraft surveillance’ technology from China’s ‘Nanjing Less Information Technology Company Limited’ at a cost of US$8.6 million five years ago. Ground stations installed at various locations conduct ‘surveillance’ of aircraft flying in the sky, including call signs, positions, airspace, etc. For that, receivers and transmitter stations were installed at 11 locations, including the new and old airports in Pokhara, and 2 locations. However, the Authority has initiated an investigation after they were not working at full capacity.
According to an official involved in the investigation, six receivers have been broken for the past five months. ‘The technology installed for highly sensitive work related to aviation security did not work as it should have. This has posed a risk to aviation security,’ the official said, ‘We are conducting a detailed investigation into this matter, some documents related to the purchase have been taken under control, and we have sought further answers from some.’
Deputy Director General of the Authority, Jagannath Niraula, said that some of the receiver towers could not be operated at full capacity because the wires of the towers were stolen. ‘We have not operated our technology from our own towers but from the towers of Nepal Telecom and NTV. Some of the tower wires have been stolen, we will repair them and bring them into operation soon.
After the government declared the Pokhara Regional International Airport a national pride project, the Authority had given the responsibility of ‘Communication-Navigation-Surveillance’ (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) to Engineer Pravin Neupane. After that, the Authority decided to send three engineers to China under the leadership of Neupane on 10 Mangsir 2076 to conduct on-site observation and coordination for the purchase of technology. Within a few days, Neupane's team reached 'Nanjing Less Information Technology Company Limited' and returned after agreeing to the purchase of technology. It is also said that the purchased technology was not used by other countries. The Authority has stated that an investigation is underway into why the technology that has not been used anywhere was brought to Nepal.
Authority spokesperson Rajendra Kumar Poudel said that all issues are under investigation. 'Investigations have to be examined one by one, that is why it has taken time,' he told Kantipur, 'We cannot say anything more right now because the investigation is not completed.'
Former MP Arjun Narsingh KC, who is a member of the parliamentary subcommittee formed to investigate irregularities at Pokhara Airport, said that it is unfortunate that the Authority is involved in a big scam. "We had prepared a report with the conclusion that the irregularities that occurred from the DPR before the construction of the airport to the completion of the construction should be investigated and the culprits should be brought to justice. After that, it was sent to the Authority for further investigation," he said, "By now, the investigation should have been completed and a case should have been filed. Keeping it like this only increased the risk of the culprits getting away with it."
Apart from the issues related to the construction of Pokhara Airport, KC said that the Authority needs to thoroughly investigate the 'operational and technical' issues related to the procurement made during the operation of the airport.
Padmini Pradhanang, former president of Transparency International Nepal, says that the employees, officials and contractors involved are walking around freely as irregularities and irregularities are happening one after another and there is no readiness to bring them to justice. She analyzes that since leaders, employees, contractors, consultants and middlemen are all involved in major irregularities, they have all conspired to deceive the Authority. ‘But the authority should have the courage to bring those involved to justice,’ she says.
Pradhananga says that not only in the Civil Aviation Authority but also in other major scams that have surfaced, there has been little impartial investigation and action against the guilty. ‘Those in power have become rich under the guise of various projects and construction of physical infrastructure that cost billions of rupees, but the usefulness of the constructed infrastructure and the return that the country will get from it have been seen as zero,’ she says. ‘Due to such irregularities and irregularities, the image of the country in the international community is declining day by day. In such a situation, it is not good to keep the issues that have been brought up in the investigation in this way.’
