BARA, May 27: The government has distributed Rs 147.1 million as compensation to the landowners of Tonigya settlement of Jitpur Simara Sub-metropolitan city where an international airport is going to be constructed. According to Senior Officer of the Second International Airport Project Implementation Section Office, Bijay Prasad Yadav, of the 140 landowners who had applied for compensation for the acquisition of their land, 52 have been handed the compensation amount.
“The Compensation Determination Committee is in the process of distributing Rs. 80 million to 21 landowners who had applied for compensation in the second round,” said Yadav. Yadav also said that the Land Reform and Management Office has started inspecting the land of 60 other landowners who are yet to apply for the compensation.
101 landowners receive compensation for Damak industrial park
Officers involved in the project said that although only 110 bighas of land allocated for the project belongs to different landowners, there is a possibility of a change.“Of the 11,875 bighas of land needed for the construction of the airport, majority of the land is in jungle area,” said Yadav, “11,765 bighas have been marked with four pillars.”
Other works that are being carried out include management of lumber from the jungle included in the project, digging of trails by Nepal Army and preparation of a report of environmental impact of the project. Hotel owner and real estate businessman Ichchha Bahadur Wagle said that the construction of the second international airport will address the problem of lack of enough international airports in Nepal.
“Many foreign tourists travelling to Nepal are forced to land in other countries due to the lack of a second international airport in Nepal,” wagle said, “The construction of this airport is likely to bring a solution to this problem. In this way, it will help improve tourism in Nepal. It will also help create job opportunities in Province-2.”
According to officers involved in the project, the project will be divided into 3 parts. The project which is said to have a budget of Rs. 700 billion, started after the government started searching for an alternative to Tribhuvan International Airport in 2014. Upon the completion of the construction, the airport can withhold an annual traffic of 34 thousand planes and 60 million passengers. Since, the project has allocated a large area for the airport construction, modern equipment can be installed at the airport, officials said.
