KATHMANDU, JUNE 26

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati stated that budget could not be allocated to many sectors due to limited resources and legal glitches.

Minister Kirati said this while responding to queries raised by parliamentarians on appropriation titles for the upcoming fiscal year of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation in today's meeting of the House of Representatives.

Expressing remorse over the failure to include many programmes in the title related to the ministry, Minister Kirati shared that among the thousands of demands put with the ministry, he had to hand-pick the projects and programmes and send the selected ones to the concerned ministry due to budget constraint. He pressed for overhauling the development framework of the country and viewed that there should be classification and prioritisation of projects in line with the essence and spirit of federalism.

Minister Kirati emphasised conservation of natural and historical heritages such as Sagarmatha, Pashupatinath, Lumbini, among others, adding that the world could not replicate such heritages at all.

'The budget ceiling of the ministry has been cut by 45 per cent for the upcoming fiscal year 2023-24. Despite this, many programmes that could be implemented throughout the country have been included in the ministry's annual programmes,' he said.

Furthermore, Minister Kirati assured that efforts were under way for effective operation of Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and Pokhara International Airport. He apprised the parliamentarians that Nepal Airlines Corporation had already begun flights on the Kuala Lumpur- Bhairahawa-Kathmandu route while Jazeera Airways had recently postponed its flight owing to technical reasons.

Minister Kirati said Nepal Airlines Corporation was on course to procure three sets of aircraft taking into account the need. He also assured that the process of procurement would be taken forward in accordance with the existing laws and in a transparent manner.

'As for the NAC, the national flag carrier currently is Rs 48 billion in debt. The NAC had obtained a hefty loan to procure two wide-body aircraft and a narrow-body aircraft in the past,' he said. He informed that since the interest amount of the debt was exorbitant, it was necessary to restructure the interest rate. He clarified that there had been no tender or application to take the Chinese aircraft on lease. However, he said evaluation of the aircraft was underway.

Moreover, Minister Kirati informed that Sichuan Airlines of China had recently conducted a chartered flight to Pokhara International Airport from Chengdu in China which, he opined, had opened the door to commercial flights in the future. He said the technical team of Nepal and India had already discussed operation of flights through a new air route. He informed that the process of constructing the proposed Nijgadh International Airport would proceed within the upcoming fiscal year 2023-24.

Minister Kirati said physical infrastructure was being constructed on the premises of Pashupatinath temple following approval of a master plan made by the Pashupati Area Development Trust, while programmes were taken forward in a phase-wise approach for the development of Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.

According to him, partnership will be forged with the private sector for development of physical infrastructure in the field of mountaineering and other adventurous sports. He said reconstruction of quake-damaged infrastructure would be completed within the upcoming fiscal year. He further said upgradation of airports in Biratnagar, Bharatpur, Nepalgunj, and Dhangadi would be undertaken in the upcoming fiscal year.

Furthermore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal would be divided into a regulatory body and service-provider agency to make aviation safety of the country more reliable and effective. A draft in connection with this has already been sent to the Council of Ministers.

The Ministry, according to Kirati, has also taken measures to prevent illegal encroachment of PADT's land at Gothatar in Kathmandu and is seeking to claim the Trust's additional land already being illegally encroached by verifying the land owned by the Trust. Likewise, permission has been issued to private companies to construct a helipad in compliance with the prevailing laws.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.