Although Nepal has proposed two other international airports at Nijgadh and Pokhara in the proximity of Tribhuwan International Airport, their construction process is yet to begin.
After the scrutiny, China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group has bagged the contract to upgrade Gautam Buddha Airport in Bhairahawa into a regional international airport.
During the final review of the financial documents by the Asian Development Bank, the company emerged as the lowest bidder. According to reports, Northwest had quoted a price tag of Rs 5.50 billion, which is Rs 897.35 million less than the price quoted by the second lowest bidder. The aggregate cost of the project as set by its executing agency, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is Rs 6.30 billion.
With the runway of 3000 meters, the airport will have the capacity of serving 760,000 passengers annually after the completion of its first phase.
The contractor will construct a new runway, exit and parallel taxiways with flexible pavements, new international aircraft parking apron with rigid pavements. The contractor will also rehabilitate the existing runway for conversion into parallel taxiway, drainage system parallel to the runway, taxiway and diversion of the Ghaghara Khola and airport boundary.
China Harbour Engineering Company and a Nepali-Spanish joint venture Sanjose-Kalika were the second and third lowest bidders, quoting Rs 6.40 billion and Rs. 6.68 billion respectively.
Likewise, the other short listed firms are China Overseas Engineering Group, China’s Sino Hydro Corporation and Spain’s Isolux-Corsan which had quoted Rs 6.77 billion, Rs 7.20 billion and Rs 7.21 billion respectively.
CAAN received seven confirmed bids from among the 37 firms that obtained bid documents. “We have notified the lowest bidder China’s northwest to be present within 28 days with a bank guarantee to sign a project contract agreement,” said Murari Bhandari, chief of the project.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, considering the contract agreement and the company’s mobilization period, the construction work is likely to begin by the end of December. The airport will be operational by early 2018,” said Bhandari.
The airport in Bhairahawa which is being upgraded into a regional international airport is the gateway to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha. Of the total project cost, ADB will provide $ 58.50 million ($ 42.75 in loans and $ 15.75 million in grants), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) will give $ 15 million loan and CAAN will bear the rest as counterpart funding. - Source spotlightnepal.com
