KATHMANDU, June 12: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has warned the ministers who have been claiming that Nijgadh International Airport will be built that the budget allocated for the construction of the airport is far too inadequate.
Laying the foundation stone of the proposed domestic terminal building of Tribhuvan International Airport on Sunday, Minister Ale objected to the budget allocated by the government for the coming fiscal year and warned the ministers not to have impractical talk about the construction of the airport. He said that an international airport would not be built with a budget of Rs 260 million.
Misuse of budget in disputed Nijgadh Airport
Aiming at Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, Minister Ale said that some ministers were saying that they would build Nijgadh Airport but only Rs 260 million had been allocated in the budget. He said that Rs 120 billion has been estimated for the construction of the airport and with the allocated budget it was not possible to build an international airport.
He said that the judiciary was interfering in the jurisdiction of the executive and questioned who had given the judiciary the right to interfere in that manner. Minister Ale said that Rs 300 billion has been spent for the construction of the airport and Rs 200 billion for the fast track. Minister Ale accused that a situation was being created to foil the attempt to link Madhesh to the Kathmandu Valley through the shortest route possible.
