The committee led by former joint secretary Bimal Wagle suggested the government to treat the process of purchasing new aircraft as a different project and deposit income generated by the new aircraft in a separate account, as conditions to stand as guarantor. The amount can be spent only as per the recommendation of a panel comprising experts, the report stated. [break]
The report also suggested seeking commitments from NAC management to repay loan with interest strictly as per the timetable and forming a monitoring committee, comprising a member each from Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, to monitor the accounts of the national flag carrier.
The study committee formed on December 24 last year had submitted its preliminary report to the Ministry of Finance on February 15, 2010.
The committee submitted its comprehensive report with additional recommendations to the parliamentary Economic and Labor Committee on Wednesday. Addressing the members of the committee, Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal argued that NAC was capable enough of acquiring new aircraft on its own capability and credibility.
“The national flag carrier is in immediate need of new aircraft to give leverage to the tourism industry,” he added. He also said dependency on international airlines will not be beneficial for the tourism industry in the long run.
Khanal, however, informed that the NAC management was still undecided on the number of narrow body and wide body aircraft that it wants to add in its fleet. The Finance secretary also hinted that the advance amount of $75,000 paid by NAC to Airbus won´t be refunded.
Coordinator of the study committee Wagle said NAC can acquire new aircraft in its fleet only if the government is ready to stand as a guarantor. “Airlines can´t be expected to perform well if they don´t have aircraft in their fleet. If it can´t acquire aircraft, it would be better to liquidate it,” he added.
Wagle also said there was no ground to believe NAC´s business plan. He also suggested bringing about managerial and institutional reforms to strengthen NAC´s competitiveness.
Prachandajung Shah, member of NAC board, said there was no point acquiring new aircraft in NAC fleet unless the management is totally revamped.
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