KATHMANDU, Dec 23: Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey, has directed the concerned bodies to prepare and submit an improvement plan for Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) within 15 days.
During a discussion on Monday about the issues and potential improvements at TIA, Minister Pandey emphasized the need to expand the action plan for the necessary reforms, which must be carried out by the relevant bodies and ministries. He further stated that after receiving the action plan, the government will forward it to the relevant bodies for implementation and remain committed to carrying out the tasks that fall under its responsibility.
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He said, "The coordination committee needs to sit and decide who will handle what-whether it will be Customs, Immigration, CAAN, Nepal Airlines, or if it will be done independently. A plan needs to be set into motion accordingly. If it’s not something we can do, it should be forwarded to the higher authorities. We need to decide if it should go to the Council of Ministers. How much time will be needed for that? Today's meeting highlighted both our strengths and weaknesses. Now, we need to create an action plan. Can we handle it, or should we send it to higher bodies? You will have 15 days to decide, and I believe you can do it."
Minister Pandey also emphasized that the airport needs to adopt advanced technology. He noted that the airport terminal, which has the capacity to handle 4.6 million passengers, is currently managing 9.6 million passengers, and the only solution is to maximize the use of technology.
"We must now move towards modern technology at the airport. The airport has the capacity to handle 4.6 million passengers, yet we are managing 9.6 million people through a terminal that does not even have that capacity. The only solution we have is the use of technology. Using technology means reducing the use of human labor in airport operations. What are the ways we can reduce that? The issue of where to place equipment also came up. We need to think about reducing human involvement and increasing the use of technology as much as possible," he said.
