Japan requested to fund international airport

Japan requested to fund international airport
eKantipur.com, 6-Oct-07

The government is requesting Japan to finance the proposed second international airport in Nijgadh, Bara district, said Prithivi Subba Gurung, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

He said that Japan has responded positively, even though it has not taken a final decision on it. “In addition, we are in talks with some Korean parties for the construction of this airport, and they have shown interest to work under the concept of build-operate-own-transfer (BOOT). However, we have not given the nod as we are awaiting Japan's support,” he said.

He was speaking at the 44th annual general meeting (AGM) of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) Friday.

Madhav Ghimire, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, said that budget constraints had emerged as a hurdle to putting in place the required infrastructure for the tourism industry. “The tourism sector needs at least 15 billion rupees during the three-year interim plan. Unfortunately, the budget allocated for the first year of the plan is only 600 million rupees,” he said. He also underscored the need to bring foreign investment into the tourism industry to fill the resource gap.

Pointing to the negative travel advisories issued by foreign embassies, he said that the tourism sector was embedded in the challenge to reverse them. On the national flag carrier, he said that the government was working seriously to restructure the ownership of Nepal Airlines Corporation to resuscitate the troubled carrier.

Dr Pushpa Raj Rajkarnikar, member of the National Planning Commission, said that various policies and projects related to tourism had remained unimplemented mainly because of a fund crunch. “To let the tourism industry to flourish at full pace, an end to the political instability is necessary,” he said.

Dhurba Narayan Shrestha, outgoing president of NATTA, said that despite the operation of new airlines and cessation of the conflict, there has been no expected growth in the tourism industry.

Meanwhile, the AGM of NATTA has unanimously elected a new executive body led by Ram Kaji Kone.