KATHMANDU: The government is preparing to call Expression of Interest (EoI)) for proposed Nijgadh International Airport without preparing DPR (Detailed Project Report) and new plantation to compensate the loss.
Officials at Ministry of Forests and Environment are dissatisfied with the decision made by the stakeholders including Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada and Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari.
“The cost of project and plans of collecting funds cannot be estimated without DPR. But it seems that the government is moving ahead without preparing DPR,” said an official.
The government is planning to hand over the construction of the airport to a private company but no modality has been prepared yet. The government is preparing to adopt public-private partnership modality. As a result, the private company will operate the airport for a limited time and hand over it to the government.
Similarly, at a time when the government is preparing to fell down the trees for the construction of the airport, it is yet to do anything to plant new saplings.
As per the EIA report, 2.45 million trees spread at the area of 796.937 hectares of land out of total forest area of 800,045.79 hectares will be cut down. In order to compensate the loss of trees, 60.12 million saplings need to be planted which requires 380,294 hectares of land.
