The Dhangadhi Airport to be upgraded (with video)
Dhangadhi: The government has already allocated a budget to acquire land required for upgrading Dhangadhi Airport in Kailali. The Civil Aviation Authority has allocated Rs 1 billion in the first phase to move ahead with the land acquisition process.
NEA has stated that additional budget will be allocated for the acquisition process. It is estimated that it will cost around Rs 5 billion to acquire the land required for the airport.
An additional Rs 17 billion and Rs 22 billion investment has been proposed for the construction of additional infrastructure. According to Civil Aviation Authority Engineer Murari Bhandari, the upgrade of the airport will be done as per the master plan prepared by Real Path Engineering Consultancy. "It has not been decided yet how much land will be acquired in which area," Bhandari told Dinesh Khabar. "Accordingly, the area to be acquired is also delineated." In the master plan, it is mentioned that 400 to one kilometers of land will be acquired from the existing airport. It is said that more acquisitions will be made from the center of the airport to the east, west and north. In the south, it is mentioned in the master plan that only a small amount of land will be acquired. The airport will be extended up to Dhangadhi-Dipayal fast track in the east.
It is said that land will be acquired by leaving three hundred and fifty meters from Dhangadhi-Attaria 6 lane road in the west. Land will be acquired from four to four hundred and fifty meters in the north. At present, the airport has a runway of 1800 meters and a separate runway of 2550 meters will be constructed for upgrading. "There are plans to use the existing runway as a taxiway," NEA engineer Bhandari added. The 392nd meeting of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also decided to pass a map to expand Dhangadhi Airport as a regional airport.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, claims that the proposal to acquire 250 bighas of land has also been passed. "A proposal has been passed to make Dhangadhi airport a regional airport by passing a map and acquiring land," he said. "Now we will take the proposal to the cabinet." After the proposal is passed by the cabinet, the work of the regional airport in Dhangadhi will move forward.