Two people, including Civil Aviation Authority Director General Pradeep Adhikari, have been arrested on charges of corruption in the construction of a heliport in Nalinchowk, Bhaktapur, while the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed a case against six others, demanding a fine of Rs 135 million, an equal amount, and imprisonment for 10 to 14 years.
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A corruption case has been filed against six people, including Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Director General Pradeep Adhikari, for corruption in the construction of a heliport in Bhaktapur's Nalinchowk. The authority filed the case in a special court on Wednesday, demanding recovery of Rs 135.746 crore and a fine of the same amount.
Authority says-
According to the spokesperson of the Authority, Rajendra Kumar Poudel, along with the Director General Adhikari, the Authority's Manager Nalabikram Thapa, Deputy Manager A case has been filed against Samriddhi Shrestha, former director Murari Bhandari, heliport construction consultant Gurudatta Adhikari, and contractor Abhiyantra Consulting Pvt. Ltd. owner Vijay Thapa. They have been accused of causing damage to government property in the construction of the heliport through malicious and illegal processes.
The Authority has demanded that Director General Adhikari, Manager Thapa, Deputy Manager Shrestha, and former Director Bhandari be imprisoned for 10 to 14 years as the main culprits. The Authority has also demanded that Adhikari be sentenced to an additional 3 years in prison for committing the crime in his capacity as Director General. The Authority has also demanded a lump sum amount and a fine accordingly against the consultant Adhikari and the contractor company Thapa and a prison sentence similar to the main culprit.
The Authority had been investigating irregularities related to the heliport construction for 2 years. The Authority had earlier given Director General Adhikari and former Director Bhandari a date of Wednesday for their statements. The Authority arrested both of them from there to find out the date and took the case to a special court.
Director General Adhikari was about to retire in the coming Magh after completing his four-year term. Those close to him also said that he was visiting the 'power center' to get reappointed for a second term.
The Authority has stated that the investigation has found that the project was built without an environmental impact assessment, the heliport was built in a way that the helicopter could not fly with a full load, there was no proper consultation/discussion and coordination with the locals before construction, no risk assessment related to flight safety was carried out, and the project was not carried out in accordance with the law and was carried out with the connivance of certain employees. The Authority's charge sheet states that the heliport was built with malicious intent and corruption was committed in collusion, ignoring air flight safety, which is considered very sensitive.
The Authority had conducted a feasibility study to proceed with the construction of the heliport in Nalinchowk in Mangsir 2078. At that time, the Director General was Rajkumar Chhetri. Before Chhetri became Director General, this project was also tried to be taken forward during Rajan Pokharel's tenure. But after Pokharel resigned while his term was still remaining, the process was taken forward during Chhetri's tenure. Samriddhi Shrestha, as an engineer, had suggested that it would be appropriate to proceed with the construction of the heliport.
Supporting Shrestha's opinion, the then Director and Head of the Aerodrome Engineering Department, Murari Bhandari, had submitted the comments to Director General Chhetri for approval on 8 Mangsir 2078. Chhetri had approved the comment file and decided to 'take the process forward only if it is feasible'. After that, the remaining work related to the feasibility was given to the department led by Director Bhandari. But the department did not conduct a feasibility study.
The Authority has concluded that there was bad intention in the construction of the heliport by not taking the process forward towards the feasibility study without informing the Director General. ‘It was found that Samriddhi Shrestha and Murari Bhandari were involved in purchasing consultancy services to prepare the ToR (Terms of Reference), Request for Proposal and Drawings for the DPR (Detailed Project Report) of the heliport,’ the charge sheet filed by the Authority states.
It has also been found that the then Director Bhandari himself approved the DPR proposal against the law. After it became controversial, the Director General did not approve it. But the project work was carried out internally without the approval of the Director General.
Financial and technical proposals were sought from three consultants, including Ekyantra Consulting, for the construction of the project. For this, an evaluation report on the technical and financial proposals was prepared under the coordination of Shrestha to prepare the consultation and DPR. However, the Authority’s investigation revealed that an incompetent consultant was appointed. The Public Procurement Act states that if the Nepali consultant does not have experience in heliport construction, an international level letter of intent should be sought.
Based on the collusive DPR and financial liability report, Director Bhandari had signed an agreement with the project on 10 Magh 2078 BS. Bhandari himself had signed the agreement to complete the project within 6 months. The next week, the then Director General Rajkumar Chhetri resigned. He left after only three months in the leadership. After that, on 17 Magh 2078 BS, the then Council of Ministers led by Sher Bahadur Deuba appointed Pradeep Adhikari as the Director General. At that time, the then Unified Socialist leader Jeevan Ram Shrestha was the Minister of Tourism.
Two months after Adhikari became the Director General, on 28 Chaitra, Engineer Thapa submitted a comment saying, 'There is no mention of the construction of the heliport in Nalinchok in the approved annual program and budget for the financial year 2078/79 BS, the cost estimate has been submitted by the project, the bidding document specification should be approved, and the upcoming budget arrangement should be approved.' Director Bhandari submitted the file to the Director General, stating that it was reasonable to approve it as per the comment. On the same day, Director General Adhikari approved the file and handed it over to the contract engineering department.
The Authority has stated that the decision regarding the construction of the Nalinchok heliport made on 28 Chaitra, with the participation of Director General Adhikari, Director Bhandari, and Engineer Thapa, has been accepted by the Authority that the procurement process has been started without the program and budget being approved or approved. The Authority has concluded that this action is contrary to the provisions of the Public Procurement Regulations that ‘a public body shall not initiate procurement proceedings without the necessary budget for procurement’.
The Public Procurement Act states that ‘a public body shall prepare specifications, plans, maps, designs, special requirements or other details related to the procurement of goods, construction work or services before it can procure them.’ However, in the absence of a detailed project report as per the agreement from the consultant, it has been confirmed that the consultant, Bijay Thapa, the director of the project and the consultant, in collusion with Gurudatta Adhikari, who was illegally present in the preparation of the report, obtained/caused to be obtained an incomplete and erroneous DPR in an unauthorized and illegal manner,' the charge sheet filed by the Authority states.
Taking the same report as the basis, the Authority has concluded that the ‘bidding document specification’, which was not fully prepared by mentioning/caused false statements, comments, etc., was not objective and scientific as per the general principles of procurement and the procurement law of Nepal, and that the cost estimate for the construction of the heliport was approved/caused to be approved without taking any ill will on this basis.
The Authority had constructed the heliport on about 32 ropanis of land that it owns. The helicopter pilots had also expressed dissatisfaction saying that it was constructed by ignoring flight safety. Three years after the construction agreement was signed, the then Tourism Minister Hit Bahadur Tamang and Director General Adhikari inaugurated the heliport on 7 Ashad 2081.
Section 6 (a) of the Civil Aviation Authority Act-2053 stipulates that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) should be conducted and prior approval from the concerned body should be obtained while constructing, reconstructing, developing and expanding an airport. However, the charge sheet of the Authority states that the Director General proceeded with the project without obtaining approval from the Council of Ministers and the relevant body in the EIA. Even when the then Minister Shrestha gave a statement to the Authority, he mentioned that the Authority proceeded with the work without obtaining approval from the Council of Ministers. Shrestha has stated that he was not aware of the construction of the heliport.
An internal investigation was conducted by a committee under the coordination of Subhash Jha, Head of the Airport Operations Department of the Tribhuvan International Airport Civil Aviation Authority. During that test flight on 26 Mangsir 2080 and the report on 11 Poush, it was pointed out that three to four hundred households around the land located about 200 meters away from the heliport area could be affected, and that there could be a threat to aircraft safety at any time.
The committee also concluded that there was no security duty post for the passenger check-in area, which is considered very important from the point of view of air safety, as well as the barracks where security personnel live, there was no separate building required for aircraft communication with Kathmandu Tower, and it was difficult to verify data including visibility due to management problems and lack of weather infrastructure management.
The committee also raised questions about the lack of separate management for ‘re-fueling’ and the existence of high-voltage power transmission lines in the heliport area. This fact has also been kept as evidence in the investigation by the Authority.
On 16 Ashad 2081, 47 pilots of various helicopters had stated that the flight operations from the heliport built in Nalinchowk created a safety risk and that ‘a terrible accident could occur’. Helicopter operators had also formed an expert group to conduct a risk assessment. A group of 14 experts, including NEA Director Prabhakar Chandra Mallik, had also conducted a separate investigation after the helicopter pilots warned them and submitted a report on 32 Shrawan 2081. It stated that the heliport, 15 km east of Tribhuvan Airport, could not be operated commercially unless a separate terminal building, dispatch office, crew briefing area, vehicle parking, ground support equipment area, fire fighting area, etc. were constructed.
Director General Adhikari, however, had ignored the findings of such studies/investigations. He was also involved in corruption cases related to other aviation-related projects. Concluding that at least 10 billion rupees had been involved in the construction of the Pokhara Airport Project, a subcommittee under the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives had recommended in April that eight employees, including the then project chief and NEA Director General Adhikari, be suspended and taken action. But the government had not removed Adhikari from his post.
The CIAA is also investigating corruption related to the construction of a building in Sinamangal, the construction of Pokhara and Bhairahawa international airports, and the purchase of a surveillance system for Pokhara airport, which are currently and former employees of the agency. Bhairahawa airport was built at a cost of about 30 billion, Pokhara airport at 24.58 billion, a 12-story building in Sinamangal at a cost of about 2 billion, and a 'surveillance tower' in Pokhara at a cost of about 1.25 billion. 'The case of the Nalinchok heliport has been filed in court as the investigation has been completed,' said CIAA spokesperson Poudel.
