Kathmandu, October 2

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) recently terminated a contract with Chinese company Shanxi Construction, which was authorised to expand the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), after it failed to start the runway expansion works.

CAAN had awarded the concerned contract to Shanxi Construction in October last year with a mandate to complete the runway expansion works within 18 months. However, the aviation sector regulator scrapped the contract with the Chinese firm after it failed to even begin the construction works in the last one year.

“Shanxi Construction not only delayed in initiating the expansion works of the TIA runway, but also did not show any concern over starting the designated works despite repeated reminders from CAAN,” informed an official at the Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project (ATCEP), under CAAN, seeking anonymity. “We had no option other than to terminate the contract with Shanxi Construction.”

The TIA Runway Extension project is one of the four packages under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded ATCEP which the government had awarded to Shanxi Construction. However, the Chinese firm was dillydallying with the project works citing rise in the price of construction materials.

This is the second time that CAAN has scrapped the contract with the contractor of the TIA Runway Expansion Project. CAAN had initially appointed Spanish company Constructora Sanjose for the TIA Runway Expansion Project. However, CAAN had terminated the contract with the Spanish company in December 2016 after it failed to implement the project.

Now, CAAN plans to publish another tender notice for the runway project at TIA.

As mentioned earlier, the TIA runway project is one package of the four packages under the ATCEP. The other three components of ATCEP include

construction and upgradation of terminal buildings, building sophisticated taxiways and soil filling works at the northern part of TIA.

Though works regarding construction of terminal buildings and taxiways are ongoing, CAAN is yet to appoint a contractor for the soil filling works in the designated areas of TIA.

“We will soon publish a tender notice for the soil filling works under ATCEP,” informed a CAAN official.

Initiated to enhance the country’s sole international airport, the ATCEP intends to reconfigure and upgrade airfield infrastructure, construct parallel and link taxiways, build a new international apron, expand the TIA runway by 300 metres and improve other utility facilities inside the airport.